Cancelled story, If interested, read 'The Gambit' the reboot for this
by ewisko
Summary: This story will be rebooted. Please read the latest chapter to know what's exactly going on. And yes, I know you're all will be asking the same question, but before you do READ THE WHOLE LAST CHAPTER FIRST. It is addressed.
1. The Gambit Begins!

**A/N (Whipes sweat from brow) Phew! It took a quite a long time to get this fic done! Anyway this new story is going to be a Noah centered halfway remix of TDWT starting from the end of the I see London… and going to the finale! Hopefully I did a good job on this, I think I came up with a really original idea.**

**Rating: T.**

**Main Characters: Noah, Gwen and Duncan. (Others yet to be decided.)**

**Chapter 1- The Gambit Begins!**

Noah sat on the cold hard bench in Economy class chewing on a piece of gruel Chef prepared the losers for dinner. He could still smell the Steak and Kidney pudding that the Amazons were eating up in first class because of them winning the challenge. Sighing he looked over to the people who were with him. Seated next to him was Owen who was practically inhaling the gruel that Chef gave them and drinking the last few drops of his milk from his cartoon. Looking across from him on the other bench there was Alejandro and Tyler who were discussing something that Noah couldn't decipher. But if Noah had to guess Alejandro was probably trying to convince Tyler to vote for him knowing now of what Noah thought of him. Noah had a vibe that Alejandro and Tyler got pretty close being stuck in the plane in London together which made probably would sway Tyler to Alejandro's vote. Sighing he moved his eyes to his last teammate or new teammate he should say: Duncan who was sitting near the corner fumbling with his knife.

_Of all the people they could've found why did it have to be him? _Noah inwardly asked himself. As Noah saw it if Duncan wasn't found or at least placed on Team Amazon instead of his he could of made it. He had already convinced a reluctant Owen to vote for Alejandro with him meaning that if Alejandro did convince Tyler to vote for him then it would be a tie-breaker. Then Noah may have gotten a shot of beating Alejandro in a tie and sending him home. But with Duncan around now he knew for sure he was a goner. Duncan hated Noah and Noah hated Duncan. So why wouldn't Duncan vote for him. Then it would be 3-2 vote and he would be sent home for sure. Out of the corner of his eye Noah could see Duncan leaving to what most likely be the confessional.

_Maybe I should make one last one for myself as well. _He thought. Of course he would have to wait until Duncan could finish his but he didn't want to wait here and be glared at by Alejandro any longer. Noah standing up made his way out of Economy towards the confessional.

Xxx

Walking down the hallway the smell of the Steak and Kidney pudding got stronger as Noah was walking towards the confessional to vent making his stomach growl. He didn't eat much of Chef's gruel so he was still pretty hungry and the smell didn't help with curbing his appetite. However walking to the confessional smelling wasn't the only thing that his body sensed. It was also sound. The more closer he got to the confessional he could hear a very faint sound of what sounded like sucking. Getting closer although still soft Noah could hear it a little more.

"Must be the wind or something." Noah said trying to shake it out of his head. Finally seeing the door in his sights he examined it to see if it was locked. It wasn't. Strange this was the only hallway to get to the confessional and he didn't see Duncan walking back to economy. Maybe he was wrong and Duncan was just going to the normal bathroom. Shrugging he pulled open the door.

"Waa!" Noah involuntary semi-shouted. At first he thought he saw Duncan was going to the bathroom but widening his eyes he could see further that Gwen was also in the bathroom with him. Face pressed up to Duncan's. Gwen noticing the egghead's presents pushed Duncan away from her.

"Duncan, look." She said pointing behind him. Duncan swung his body around to face Noah frowning. Noah's reflex dictated him to dart back but Duncan grabbed him by the collar glaring.

"It looks like someone needs to learn a lesson in privacy." Duncan threatened holding up a fist to Noah's face.

"D-Duncan, stop that." Gwen whispered harshly to the criminal. "Put him down." Duncan turned his head.

"But he was snooping!" He retorted.

"You don't have to talk to me in the third person I'm right here." Noah quipped. Duncan turned to face him again then again to face Gwen. Sighing he dropped Noah to the ground. Dusting himself off and standing up he turned to face the both of them. He was about to speak if Gwen hadn't scared him.

"Oh crap I think that's Courtney!" Gwen said closing the door so that her Duncan and Gwen were squished inside.

"Hey!" Noah started but Gwen clamped his mouth shut with her hand.

"Gwen." Duncan also tried to say but she clamped his mouth to. Now all was silent and Noah didn't want to risk saying anything. They could hear footsteps walking towards the confessional and then a knock.

"Gwen are you done in there yet?" A voice that sounded like Courtney asked.

"A-a just a minute Courtney." Gwen barely managed to get the words out of her mouth.

"Okay." Courtney answered. Soon Noah could hear her steps fade as she went back to first class and it was then that Gwen removed her hand from both Noah and Duncan's mouths. They all stood up and no one said a word yet. Duncan still looked like he wanted to kick Noah's ass and Gwen was just blushing and looking nervous.

"So, am I going to be locked in with you two all night because I forgot to bring the chips" Noah quipped trying to break the ice. Duncan scowled but it was strangely Gwen the one who talked.

"Noa-."

"If you're trying to do that cliché of trying to persuade me not to tell anyone about you guys right?" Noah sarcastically asked. Gwen looked shock of how nonchalant Noah was acting towards this but nodded.

"Oh forget this! Gwen I don't care who knows or doesn't know about this so if he wants to tell the world about it he can. So let's stop bullshitting around!" Duncan said.

"Wait, Duncan I don't think-

"If you're worried about Courtney don't-

"Duncan can you just let me talk!" Gwen shouted to him. That made Duncan freeze, Noah included. She sighed.

"Look, I- I'm just confused right now okay. I just need time to sort some stuff out. So at least for a little while let's not tell anyone." Gwen shockingly said.

"But Gwe-

"My mind's made up Duncan! Just please, please at least for until the next challenge or so." She said. It took a minute before Duncan was speaking again. He looked up and down, shook his head and sighed deeply.

"Fine, if that's what you want Gwen, you can take all the time that you need." Duncan answered. Gwen smiled back at him.

"Thank you Duncan that means a lot." Gwen thanked. Noah could also see Duncan was smiling too.

"Hey, no problem. It's not like you or me are going to get eliminated anytime soon. We got time." Duncan replied.

"I'm still here you know." Noah said reminding them both. Gwen and Duncan both turned to him with Duncan's scowling now brought back. At this moment now Noah's mind was frantically thinking of what to say next. Then a thought occurred to him. What did he care what they do he was going to get kicked off anyway. Then it seemed that a giant light bulb flash over his head. Maybe if he played his cards right he wouldn't need to take the drop. Then he could fully expose Alejandro for who he is and take him out of the game.

"Listen, you breath anything about what happen here an-." Duncan started to break his thoughts. Now was Noah's time to make his gambit.

"Empty threats Duncan empty threats." Noah said waving his hand away. He looked at them both. "Listen I'm not like Sierra, I can care less what you two do. But I do care about not getting eliminated." Noah said. Duncan and Gwen both looked puzzled. Noah sighed.

"I guess I have to explain it more clearly. Here's the deal: I won't tell anyone about you two as long as you, Duncan don't vote for me." It took a moment for Duncan and Gwen to both processes that but when they did Duncan was irate.

"You little twerp, you want to black mail us!" Duncan seethed. Noah shook his head.

"Look, under normal circumstances I wouldn't do this but I know for a fact that Tyler and Alejandro are voting for me and you would probably do to if I didn't walk in here." Noah explained. Gwen nodded.

"Duncan what he's saying makes sense, just don't vote for him for tonight's elimination."

"Fine." Duncan growled. But a question he thought "Who would you want me to vote in your place." Duncan asked. Noah smiled. "Alejandro, and mind you this doesn't just apply for tonight. You need to vote for Alejandro every time we lose including after the merge." Noah informed. That's when Duncan jumped.

"What!? You mean I have to waste my vote every single time!" Duncan roared.

"Just until Alejandro is gone then you'll be free to vote for whomever you wish, except for me and Owen."

"Owen! How did he get roped into this?" Duncan angrily asked.

"Because I like Owen and don't want him gone." Noah said very plainly. "Besides I don't see any reason you would want Owen gone so what does it matter?" Noah asked. Duncan tried to come up with a reason to counter Noah's argument but could find no flaws.

"Fine, anyone else you want me to not vote for." Duncan asked not knowing seconds later he'd regret it.

"Well now that you mention that if he makes it to the merge you can't vote for Cody."

"Cody! He isn't even on our team!" Duncan informed. Noah rolled his eyes. "I mean when the merge comes you can't vote for Cody." Duncan growled but complied.

"Fine." He replied. Noah rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry; these rules apply to me to so I can't vote for you or Gwen either." Noah tried to cheer him up. Duncan scowled faded a little. Noah then turned to Gwen to instruct his demands to her.

"Gwen, I don't have many demands from you but I would like to remind you that the Cody rule applies for you to." Noah informed. Gwen nodded.

"Not like I would vote for him but go on."

"Also, if Team Amazon wins anymore challenge and you get better food then the losing team I would like it if you smuggle some for me." Noah offered. Gwen shrugged.

"Yeah, sure I can do that." Gwen replied. Duncan rolled his eyes.

"What, she can't bring any food for me?" Duncan asked. Noah shook his head.

"I don't think so, not because I don't want you to have any food but if Gwen tries to smuggle food for you someone could misinterpret that as you two dating." Noah chuckled a little. "Or should I say accurately interpret because you guys are." Gwen looked a little uncomfortable from that comment however Duncan chuckled a little as well.

"But that actually Segway's into another point I would like to make" Noah began. "If you guys want to _kiss_ or what not please be careful about it. Like for example what you two did just now in not locking the door was a really bad mistake considering I caught you." Again that made Gwen look uncomfortable and Duncan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah we'll be more careful mom?" He said sarcastically which made Noah frown.

"Hey even though I'm black mailing I'm doing this for your benefit. If I was Heather I'd probably make it so that Gwen would have to throw every challenge for us. And believe me I think she had enough of that from Justin." Noah said with Gwen nodding her head.

"So anymore rules we have to follow?" Duncan asked. Noah thought about that. It didn't seem like it, Noah had accounted for everything.

"No, everything's good but let's do a quick recap: Duncan you have to vote for Alejandro at every elimination until he gets eliminated. If Alejandro does get eliminated then you can vote for whomever you with as long as it isn't Owen, Cody or I at any time during the game; pre-merge or otherwise. I'm going to do the same and not vote for you two either. Also if Gwen and her team win she has to bring me a bit of the good food she won from her reward. I'll do the same to her. What I want to eventually happen is that. Owen, Cody, you two and I make it to the final 5. At that point if you two still want to remain a secret I will never tell anyone, and any demands that I put on you two will be lifted. Meaning if you two can vote for anyone you wish including me. However, no plan goes perfectly so if we all still make it to the final 5 and I feel that someone is a threat that isn't us three then the deal is still intact" Just then Noah remembered another thing.

"Also, and I don't think either of you will do so, but if say Duncan happens to vote for me and I am eliminated I still have a way of exposing you two." Noah reminded. Duncan raised an eyebrow.

"What way? How do we know you're not just bluffing" Duncan asked. Noah shook his head.

"You don't I could be bluffing and I could not be, the question is: will you take that risk?" Noah ended. Duncan looked angry but sighed.

"No." Duncan said. Noah smiled. "Also if anyone of you two or I want's to meet up if someone suspects someone else is onto us or anything of that nature just do flash this symbol to me discreetly." Noah pulled out his hand and made four of his fingers that wasn't his thumb go into two directions so that two on the right and two on the left were touching.

"The spock symbol?" Gwen asked to clarify. Noah nodded.

"Yep."

**ATTENTION! ATTENTION! THE MEMBERS OF TEAM ME COME TO THE ELIMINATION ROOM PRONTO! TIME FOR SOMEONE TO GET THE BOOT!**

Both Noah and Duncan jumped and hit their heads hearing the loud call.

"I guess we should go now?" Duncan said rubbing his head.

"I agree." Noah said. "I'll go out first so you should just wait like 30 seconds or so to come out. It would seem very suspicious if we both go out together. And believe me after the Big Sleep episode first season I don't want any more gay shipping pairings that include me." Noah mumbled the last part softly but he could hear Duncan bellowing laughter as he went out the door.

Xxx

"Okay, elimination time team me!" Chris said as all of the members of Team Chris filed into the elimination room. Noah walked and sat on the lowest bleacher of the mini bleacher with Owen sitting beside him with Alejandro, Tyler and Duncan sitting at the top most one.

"I know you haven't officially did this before but you all can figure it out. Just go to the john on the left here-" Chris stop midsentence pointing to where that was. "And vote for whomever you want to take the drop. So let's do this alphabetically, Alejandro your up first!" Chris declared. Alejandro smirked.

"As you wish." He said not even trying to hide the smugness in his voice. Walking to the voting bathroom he shot Noah a subtle smirk. Noah himself was chuckling on the inside.

_Just you wait Al, I got a 3-2 vote against you. _Noah thought to himself.

Xxx

"Okay I tallied up the votes, so let's read them out for some suspenseful fun. First vote goes for Alejandro." Noah glanced up at Alejandro and saw that he didn't look afraid. He most likely thought that that was Noah's vote. "Second vote, Noah." Now it was Alejandro's turn to glance at Noah looking smug. "Third vote, Alejandro." That's when Noah saw Al's face contort into confusion.

_How can this be? I got Tyler's vote against Noah and even though I knew Owen wouldn't vote for Noah, I couldn't of thought it was me he would vote for! _Before jumping to that conclusion Al's eyes saw Duncan sitting on the bleacher.

_Maybe it was Duncan that voted for me? Damn! I assumed that he would've voted for Noah to! _Alejandro cursed to himself in his head.

"Fourth vote, Noah again!" Chris read aloud. Noah still sat there not looking worried. In a moment the last vote would be read and it would read Alejandro. Soon he would finally rid himself of that lying, manipulative jerk for good.

"And the last vote goes to…

….

…

…

..

…

…

…

TYLER! It's a tie!"

"What!" Noah sprang up from his seat while Alejandro sighed in relief. His eyes immediately darted to Duncan jumping to conclusion that he didn't hold up his end of the bargain.

"Sorry Noah." Owen said standing up. Noah's eyes then turned to him. He didn't process what Owen was trying to say for a moment until it clicked. "Owen, you promised that you would vote for Alejandro!" Noah started. Owen just hung his head in guilt.

"Sorry buddy, but I couldn't vote Al off. He's a nice guy if you get to know him." He muttered softly.

"Then why did you tell me that you would!" Noah yelled back.

"You were just so upset buddy tha- that I just said that to make you feel better!" Owen said trying to find the right words.

"If I may interrupt, Chris how are we going to settle this?" Alejandro asked the host.

"Well, I'd normally do a tie-breaker challenge to see who stays… IF THIS WASN'T JUST A REWARD CHALLENGE!" Chris yelled chortling with laughter. The 5 male boys eyes widened.

"WHAT!" They all yelled back in unison. Chris smiled.

"Yep, it was all for reward! Just wanted to see who you would all vote for. Team Amazon for their reward would be receiving 5 star English cuisine until we get to our next destination. But don't go away cause next week we're going to have another dramatic episode of Total Drama World Tour!" Chris sang the last syllable on 'Tour.' He waited for a brief moment but then put his arms down. Noah summized that the filming was done now.

"Well, with that spectacular performance Noah just put on will be sure to bring in a lot of ratings." Chris said chuckling as he walked away from the room winking his eye to Noah as he left. Noah's eyes widened but dismissed it. He assumed that Chris did that because he must've watched the footage of him black mailing Duncan and Gwen.

Soon Noah's eyes saw Noah, Tyler and Duncan filling out of the room and decided he should follow suit. Standing up he proceeded to walk off but one thing stopped him.

"Noah, I'm sorry." He turned and saw Owen still sitting on the bench looking sad. Noah just frowned back.

"Why don't you talk to your best friend Alejandro." He muttered with disdain as he walked out of the room leaving Owen sitting there.

**Confessional Cam's **

**Noah: **(Looks behind his neck quickly before talking) *sighs* In hindsight I do feel a little bad blackmailing Duncan and Gwen. But look what I'm dealing with! Alejandro and Tyler are still probably going to vote for me if we lose again before the merge and now I can't even rely on Owen's vote to save me! (Noah let that sink in the air for a bit) *sighs* I thought I could trust him, guess I was wrong. Duncan seems like the only ally I have now at least until the teams merge, then I can maybe try to ally myself with Cody and that's when Gwen's part of the deal will be really helpful. I just need to make sure that Alejandro will go next time!

**Gwen: **(Closes the door and make sure for certain that no one will hear her) *Sighs* What did I do? How could I let Duncan kiss me tonight! I mean I like him but with Courtney and all and us being in the game and UUH! It's just so confusing! *Sighs again* And now Noah knows and I'm being black mailed into an alliance! I mean he was nice about it but it's blackmail! *Sighs again* I just have to make sure for certain that Courtney does not find out about this. And maybe I can convince Duncan to just break it off with Courtney before she knows about us. (She realizes what she's saying and looks into the camera) I'm a horrible person.

**Duncan: **I can't believe that little twerp caught me with Gwen! I mean I don't care if Courtney or anyone else knows, she's a bitch anyway, but for some reason Gwen doesn't want us to go public yet. *Scoffs* Don't know why… Whatever! As soon as Gwen comes to her senses I don't need to do what that little shit Noah says and hopefully personally kick his ass of this plane!

**A/N- Hopefully it wasn't terrible. It took two days of work working on this and hopefully it dosen't suck. Please Review, negative or positively!**

**-ewisko8**


	2. Second Thoughts

**A/N- Yep, another chapter. I hope this dosen't seem like filler but I think what happens in this chapter warrants its own chapter. This doesn't contain a challenge but it does contain character development. Well I'll finish these Authors Notes at the end of the chapter so please enjoy!**

"Damn bladder." Noah muttered to himself as he peered his eyes open. Blinking a few times he let his eyes adjust to the darkness that surrounded him. Wherever the plane was flying too it was night time. That was good considering it was about (Noah glanced to his digital watch) 1:30 Toronto time. However as much as Noah would love to go back to sleep but he had a very strong urge to go to the bathroom. Sighing he unbuckled his safety belt and stood up. Chris for legal reasons put very dim lights in Economy so if there was an emergency at sleeping hour contestants could make their way to safety. Following these lights Noah walked out the door to the non-confessional bathroom.

Xxx

"Are you kidding me, no soap?" Noah murmured scanning the bathroom for soap. He had just finished reliving himself and was now trying to find soap to wash his hands with. He couldn't find it. "Ah well I do have some wet wipes in my sack I can use." He said walking out of the bathroom. Before he could walk back he got slammed by what felt like another body to his right to where it was on top of him.

"Hey, get off." Noah said trying to push the other person off.

"Jeez, sorry Noah." The voice answered. Noah's eyes got bigger realizing who the voice was. It was Cody's.

"Cody? Is that you?" Noah asked wanting to confirm his theory as he stood back up.

"Yeah, it's me. Sorry about running into you." The tech geek replied. Noah shrugged it off as he took Cody's hand that he was offering to help Noah get off the ground.

"It's fine. Why are you up anyway?" Noah asked. Noah saw for some reason Cody's body freeze for a brief moment.

"Uh, no- no reason, why do you ask?" Cody replied. Noah raised an eyebrow.

"Cody, you're not a good liar. So are you going to tell me why you're up or not?" Noah asked again. Upon hearing this Cody sighed.

"Okay but you can't tell anyone, or mention what I'm doing in front of the camera." Now that made Noah really intrigued.

"Okay I promise." Noah said. Cody took a breath before he told Noah.

"Okay, you know how Ezekiel was eliminated last challenge right?" Cody began.

"Yeah." Noah replied. That was a stupid question. How couldn't he remember? It happened less than 12 hours ago and it was a pretty shocking reveal at least to Noah. He just assumed Chris would put an intern to be Jack the Ripper.

"Yeah, well he kind off is still on the plane." Cody said.

"Really?" Noah responded genuinely surprised.

"Yeah, He apparently hung on to one of the wings of the plane and climbed back in and hid in one of the storage compartments on the plane. After your guys fake elimination ceremony I went there to hide from Sierra and found him. We talked and I guess I felt so bad for him that I promised to smuggle some food for him from my meals every week." Cody finished his explanation. Noah chuckled. Compared to the secret Noah was harboring Cody's doesn't seemed to be that bad. Plus during the bus ride to the airport for the first Total Drama World Tour episode he had started to like Ezekiel. He was even a little sad that he got voted off first again.

"Oh that's all. From the way you were telling me not to tell the cameras before I almost thought you went off to look at some porn." He laughed quietly.

"Ha ha." Cody sarcastically laughed back. "You won't tell anyone right?" Cody asked again remembering how he didn't want Ezekiel to get caught. Noah waved his hand away.

"I don't really care if you do or don't." Noah answered. Cody smiled.

"Thanks man, hey I know you might want to go back to sleep but can we just talk for a little bit longer. I just don't really want to go back to first class and be Sierra's teddy bear again for another night." Cody grimaced at the thought. Noah thought this over for a little bit. How his body worked is if he ever woke up in the middle of the night to do something he usually couldn't go back to sleep. And Cody was practically the only person still on the plane that he still liked after Owen betrayed him…

"Sure, why not." Noah shrugged. "Got nothin better to do."

"Great!" Cody said sliding down to the floor with Noah sliding down next to him. Now the two boys were sitting side by side together in the long corridor.

"I hope the cameras aren't on, I don't want to give the shippers anymore ammunition for us being gay." Noah mumbled. Cody sighed.

"I know, about a quarter of the stories with us in them on has us as a couple pairing." Cody mentioned with Noah murmuring in agreement. After that the two sat in silence for about a minute until Cody spoke up again.

"I'm sorry about what happened between you and Owen." Cody said. Noah quirked his eyebrow.

"How did you find out about that?" Noah asked. Cody shrugged.

"For some reason Gwen went to the room where the elimination was held in to watch it. I don't really know why she went there but I followed her just to get away from Sierra and saw what happened." Cody explained. "Still don't know why Gwen went to watch though…" Cody trailed off. Noah knew exactly why Gwen came to watch. It was Duncan. Noah figured she was afraid that he would get voted off so she went to watch the elimination. Which was puzzling considering he gave her and Duncan's his word not to double cross them. She must've not trusted him.

"Don't be, at least I know where his loyalties lie now." Noah muttered bitterly. Cody frowned.

"Come on Noah, Owen still thinks of you as a great friend maybe even a best friend towards him. He doesn't think any less of you because of Alejandro."

"Then why didn't he vote for Al with me." Noah questioned. Cody scratched his head thinking about that for a moment. Cody seemed like the only one who knew about Alejandro's true nature along with Noah. Noah assumed that it had to do with Alejandro pushing him at the Gemmy awards and him punching him off the platform in Germany.

"Owen's just the type of guy that thinks there is good in everyone, that's part of the reasons why he's so likable. Probably the reason why he won first season." Cody tried to persuade. If Noah was looking this without feelings then he would of concluded that Cody's reasoning's would be correct. However he was still in a state of anger and betrayal of what Owen did to him and a state of disappointment of it being a reward challenge which saved Alejandro for elimination that he took Cody's conclusion as a grain of salt.

"Whatever." Noah rolled his eyes. Cody sensing that Noah didn't want to talk about this anymore tried to change topics.

"So, how's it like having Duncan on your team." Cody asked. Noah's eyes widened at that name. _Duncan_. The one thing keeping Alejandro from eliminating him. Noah knew that he had to plan his words very carefully and not risk accidentally telling Cody about his new alliance with the delinquent and Goth.

"I can already sense it's going to be trouble, he has already stolen a couple of my books and gave me a wedgie." Noah answered. Of course these were all lies but Noah had to make sure that everyone thought he hated Duncan… more than usual. Of course Noah despised him in reality but he can't leave any traces of him doing business with the criminal so he had to exaggerate some truths.

"Oh, that's too bad. Harold told me how bad he was to him seasons 1 and 2 so I it dosen't surprise me." Cody answered.

"Yep." Noah responded. Cody sensed that Noah was still down.

"Well at least Tyler voted for Alejandro with you." Cody reminded. That made Noah stare at him.

"What?" Noah replied confused.

"You know, Tyler voted for Alejandro with you. Didn't he?" Cody asked now confused. He assumed that Tyler voted for Alejandro with Noah. Noah shook his head.

"Tyler voted for me not Alejandro." Noah corrected.

"Huh, wait. But I thought that…" Cody scratched his head. Noah's eyes widened. He made a fatal error. In a few moments Cody would realize that Duncan voted for Alejandro with him.

"Wait does that mean that Duncan voted for Alejandro with you?" Cody asked. Noah's mind thought frantically on what to say next.

"Guess so, I'm surprised myself that he didn't vote for me." Noah said trying to act nonchalant. However Cody noticed something in Noah's voice when he said that. It sounded different like someone who was scared would say. Cody thought nothing about it and shrugged.

"Maybe, Duncan watched the show before he was found and saw how he manipulated Bridgette or DJ or someone that was manipulated by him and saw him as a threat." Cody tried to come up with a conclusion. Noah snapped his fingers.

"Yeah, you're absolutely right." Noah agreed a little too quickly. Cody noticed something in Noah's voice again but shrugged it off. He probably was still a bundle of nerves after what happened between him and Owen.

"Well, how are you doing with your own team?" Noah asked eager to change topics. Cody sighed.

"Not that good. I mean I like first-class and everything but I feel that I don't have anyone to talk to up there."

"What about Gwen." Noah reminded.

"Sierra won't let me go near her; she's like an overprotective soccer mom." Cody complained.

"I can see her being like that." Noah mused but Cody shook his head.

"It's not just that, even when I do get Sierra to go away from me Gwen's always just talking to Courtney." Noah's eyebrows rose.

"Courtney?" Cody nodded.

"Yeah, well sometimes she's okay but like in a challenge or something she always complains to the whole team about my height or how I can't pick up things quick enough stuff like that. I mean I know I'm not that strong but those words do kind off sting."

"So you're frustrated that you have no one to talk to?" Noah guessed with Cody nodding.

"Yeah, aside from Sierra I feel like I'm being isolated from my own team both by her and Courtney. The only person whoever talks to me besides Sierra is Heather and I know that's only because she wants to have an alliance with me or something like that." Noah thought Cody would end it right there but he continued. "I just thought this season would be better you know, Trent's gone so this should be my one and only chance to win back Gwen but Sierra won't let me talk to her and Courtney makes it so I feel uncomfortable talking to her." Cody was talking fast now and his face was glowing red.

"After Season 1 everyone treated me as a failure even my own parents. Everyone in school when I got back started making jokes about me about me getting mauled by a bear and for my elimination so early. My parents thought I was going to win first season and when I got back they were so disappointed. I remember my dad shaking his head at me and my mom scolding me for not placing better. I thought this season would be my redemption that I'd have a good placement, that I'd have a good team to hang out with but it's not working out that way!" Noah was flabbergasted at Cody's long speech.

"But mark my words Noah, I don't care what Courtney or dad or anyone else says about me. I'm aiming to make it far in this game, I'm aiming to keep winning challenges and most importantly I'm aiming to win Gwen!" A pause. After Cody stopped his rant a long paused had taken his place. All Noah could do is watch Cody try to pull himself back together. Who knew how long Cody kept those feeling hidden inside? Now an eerie chill swept across Noah. It wasn't scary but it was reality. In reality Noah knew that Gwen was with Duncan. Any romantic relationship that Cody and Gwen could have was gone. For a brief moment Noah wanted to tell Cody the truth. He wanted to confess that he saw Duncan and Gwen kissing. He wanted to confess that he had an alliance with Gwen.

But he couldn't. Part of him made that decision because he knew it would ruin his strategy and another knew if he told Cody right now in this state it would destroy him.

"Sorry, for getting so mad Noah." Cody apologized breaking his thoughts. "I just got a little carried away back there." Noah looked back at him.

"Don't worry about it Cody. You told me exactly how you felt and nothing more. Besides what are friends for?" Noah answered. Cody smiled at that.

"Thanks Noah." Cody said standing up. "I should get back to sleep and make sure I get enough rest to help my team for the next challenge." Noah blinked but stood up too.

"Yeah, I kind of want to finish my Churchill biography that I'm almost done with." Noah replied. The two said their goodbyes and then both walked off. Noah now for the first time felt guilty of the alliance. Not because of alliance, but because he knew for a fact that sooner or later Cody would know that Gwen kissed Duncan. And he would know that Noah didn't tell him. He would know that Noah betrayed him.

Wasn't he justified though! He had problems himself too. Cody wasn't the only one made fun of because of his low placement in the game, heck he placed lower than Cody! And without him doing this Alejandro potentially could sweep the game and cause Cody's downfall along with the rest of the contestants. Inadvertently he was helping Cody. Right?

Noah tried to push the guilt down into his stomach as he went back and laid on the bench. Looking at the wall his eyes grew weary until giving in to dark dreamless sleep.

**A/N- Yep, so Noah's feeling guilty about him not telling Cody about Gwuncan. Hopefully this dosen't come off as rushed because I felt it did a little bit. But next challenge I know will make this story very AU because it won't be in Greece! Yep, next challenge will have a different location with different challenges! Yeah, some challenges that I find boring that are in the cannon TDWT are going to be replaced with my own and the Greece challenged I felt would be a little dull at least for a fanfiction that is mostly told through Noah's point of view. But now I want to know your thoughts. Did you like this new character development for Cody or do you think that it was meaningless and could be fitting in later. Don't worry because I don't intend for Cody to overshadow Noah. Cody will have a big part in this story later on but this is still Noah's story. Well please review, negatively or positively and I'll see you next time!**

**-ewisko8**


	3. When in Rome Pt1

**Authors Notes: Here's chapter 3 everyone! As I told you last time this challenged would not be in Greece because I found that challenge rather dull so they're gonna go to Italy! Rome to be more precise although you guys could of probably guessed from the title. I hope I came up for an interesting first part of the challenge and wrote Noah well here. **

Noah was still thinking about his conversation with Cody last night as he sat at the far end of the Team Victory table. He was sitting their because at his own team table there was no one that he liked anymore and the vacant Team Victory table seemed like a good place to sit. Sighing he glanced to his own table. Owen was looking glum and not even eating the gruel that Chef prepared for them To Owen's right he could see Tyler who was talking to Alejandro and finally to Alejandro's right there was Duncan who was occasionally making remarks to the conversation but not one of the main parties involved with it.

Noah kind of liked that Duncan was hanging palling around with Alejandro. This was due to the fact that he wanted Duncan to act as normal as possible so no one would accept them being together in an alliance along with Gwen.

"I hope she didn't forget to bring me her food." Noah said glancing at the clock. They had agreed that at 9:00 Gwen would lie about going to the bathroom to her team and at 9:05 Noah would lie about making a confessional cam. Where they would actually go is to the plane's cargo hold so she could give Noah a bit of the good food that the winners of challenges always got.

"9:04, better get going now." Noah said standing up from the table. He proceeded to walk past his own table to get to the exit. What Noah didn't notice is Owen almost tearing up seeing his little buddy be so mad at him.

"Noah…" Owen murmured seeing his little friend walk away. Alejandro noticing this tried to use the large Canadian teen's sadness to his advantage.

"Still sad about Noah I see." Alejandro said putting his arm over Owen's shoulder. Owen responded with a sigh.

"He just wanted me to vote for you so badly…" Owen trailed off again.

"And I am ever in your debt of not doing so my friend." Alejandro said smiling at him prompting Owen to smile back.

"Thanks Al, you're so nice. I don't understand why Noah doesn't like you so much." Owen thanked. Alejandro smirked back.

"I don't know why either Owen, I don't know why…"

**Confessional Cams**

**Owen:** I feel so bad that Noah's mad at me. I guess he really wanted Al gone and he must be mad that I lied to him but I just can't vote for Al! He's been so nice to me! *Sighs*

**Alejandro:** Ah yes Noah and Owen this is too perfect. I have to use this to my advantage. Sadly I do not think I can convince Owen to vote for Noah even in his new saddened state but that does not concern me. Next elimination Owen will either vote for Tyler or Duncan, most probably Tyler. Meaning that it would be a tie, and I can definitely beat Noah in any physical challenge.

**End Confessional Cam**

"Here's the door." Noah mumbled opening the door that led to the cargo hold. Opening the entrance he entered it quickly and then closed the door. He didn't want anyone to see him. Especially Alejandro.

"Noah?" Noah spun his head around because of his name being called and saw it was Gwen. She had bags under her eyes and was frowning slightly. She approached him holding out a container of something.

"Here's a piece of my steak." She muttered not looking him in the eye as she gave it to him. Noah nodded in reply as he accepted the steak. He opened it and saw what Gwen was saying was true and that Steak mixed with some greens were inside. Looking back up at her he could also see that her eyes had heavy bags over her eyes.

"You look tired. Make first base with Duncan again the whole night again?" He sarcastically quipped. Noah was expecting Gwen to be mad at him for his remark but she just looked away from him. Like the mere mention of Duncan made her cringe.

"Noah just get the hell away from me." Gwen muttered. Noah raised his eyebrow.

"Why are you so mad?" Noah asked. Looking back that question was kind off stupid but in the moment that was all Noah could say. That's when Gwen turned on him.

"Oh, I don't know Noah. Maybe it has to do with you black mailing me!" Gwen said walking up right to his face. Usually Noah could make a sarcastic quip or comment about this but for some reason he couldn't. It was as if Gwen's cold glare froze him in place.

**ATTENTION PASSENGERS! REPORT TO THE COMMON AREA! **

Chris shouted over the microphone. Noah and Gwen then looked at each other and then the exit. They nodded to each other as they both walked out of the door. However in their haste to go to Chris they failed to notice the purple haired stalker spying on them behind one of the many boxes.

**Confessional Cam**

**Sierra:** O-M-G! Gwen and Noah have a secret alliance! *pauses to scratch her head* I wonder why, The Total Drama Wiki dosen't list them as being friends and they haven't really talked before…

**Confessional Ends**

"Welcome final 9 passengers!" Chris greets seeing all 9 players entering the common area of the ship. "Because this is more or less the halfway point of the competition I thought our next destination should be one where true champions reign; the birthplace of the Olympics!" Chris cheered.

"So we're going to Greece then." Courtney said cheerfully. For some reason Chris shook his head.

"No Courtney, the birthplace of the Olympics are-

"Greece, Courtney is correct." Alejandro finished the host's sentence. Chris then frowned at them both.

"No… The Olympics were first hosted in-

"Greece. Wow you must've sucked at history." Noah informed. Chris frowned but then pulled out a book from his pocket. Flipping through the pages until he found the right one he wanted he stared at it for about 5 seconds and then sighed.

"I guess you are right, The Olympics were from Greece. But the network already paid the location fee for Rome so screw it! We're going to go to Italy!" Chris said. Noah rolled his eyes.

**Confessional Cam**

**Noah: **Whenever I think he couldn't get that stupid he always proves me wrong.

**Confessional Cam ends**

"We're gonna be landing their soon, so just wait here or whatever for a bit until I tell you to get off the plane." Chris said waving his hand as he walked away from them.

"Aw cool Italy!" Owen cheered. "I can eat so much pizza there!" He cheered again to his team. He then turned to Noah who was standing in the corner not part of the conversation. "Aren't you excited buddy!" He said extending his arms for a bear hug. Noah turned to face him and frowned.

"Whatever." He muttured turning away from him. Owen's cheerful face disappeared in a flash at this; still hurting that Noah was mad at him. Alejandro noticing this put his arm around Owen's shoulder trying to console him. Noah seeing this frowned and looked away again.

**Confessional Cam**

**Noah:** I know what Alejandro is doing. Trying to use Owen's feelings to his own personal game. *Sighs* But don't think you're the only one scheming this time around Al, I have Duncan's vote at my fingertips and Gwen when the merge happens. Next vote, tiebreaker or not, you're going down.

**End**

**ATTENTION PASSENGES! WE'RE LANDING IN ITALY PLEASE EXIT THE AIRCRAFT! **Chris blarred over the microphone.

Noah hearing this went along with his teammates to exit the plane.

Xxx

Noah exited the aircraft to find that they somehow landed right next to the Roman Coliseum. Gazing at in awe he wondered how the Italian government let an aircraft land so close to a historic monument.

"Come on let's get going." Chris said ushering the competitors inside the coliseum. Noah gazed around to all of the stands and how big it was. He loved to study ancient Rome but never actually went to the coliseum before.

"Welcome, to the Roman Coliseum where the first part of today's challenge will take place! Where two players will have to duel each other gladiator style with a little twist."

"What twist?" Heather asked knowing that there would be some catch. Chris grinned.

"I was hoping you'd ask that, Chef if you'd please!" Chris called. Chef rolled his eyes and then tossed Chris of what looked like a deck of cards. "I had to try to change this challenge a little to have a little Greece in it. Anyway you won't be just battling each other to win; you're going to be battling each other to win as gods!"

"What?" Cody asked with Chris nodding in return.

"Yep, I have in my hand 10 cards, 5 of the cards are gods from Roman mythology and the other 5 are ones from Greek mythology. One team will be the Romans and the other the Greeks. Each person from the Greek team will pick a random card which will correspond which god you'll be fighting as. Romans you'll do the same only you'll do it from the Roman deck. Once someone has their god they'll be receiving armor and weapons that correspond with the god they choose. Then you'll fight a god from the opposing team with that armor. The team with the most of duels won wins the first part of today's challenge and will receive a special advantage for part 2 of today's challenge."

"But how will we decide who's Greek and Rome?" Owen asked raising his hand.

"Will do that via coin toss." Chris said pulling out a Canadian quarter from his pocket. "Whoever wins the toss picks which mythology they will play as. Amazons which side do you want?" Chris said turning to the Amazons.

"Tails." Courtney answered.

"Okay, that means team me will be heads." Chris said. He then tossed up the coin and caught it on his other palm. Then he flipped over the coin on the back of his other hand and then looked. "It's heads, so team me which mythology do you want." Alejandro motioned Noah and the others to do a team huddle so they could decide which Noah complied.

"Okay fellow amigos what are your thoughts." Alejandro asked.

"I think we should pick Rome." Tyler spoke up. Noah nodded.

"I agree, we're in Rome so perhaps if we pick the Roman mythology we'll have an advantage of some kind." Noah agreed. Alejandro smiled back at him.

"Okay amigo, Rome it is." Alejandro said in a voice friendly but fake. Noah nodded back as his team broke out of the huddle.

"Chris, we pick Rome." Alejandro declared. Chris nodded.

"Okay then, Amazons you'll be Greece and now for the cards." Chris said holding up the two decks. He gave Chef the Greek one for the Amazons to pick while Chris held out the Roman ones to Noah's team.

"Pick your poison." Chris said cheerfully. Alejandro picked the first card and flipped it over.

"Mars." Alejandro said looking at his card name. Tyler who picked his card as well turned it over.

"Mercury." Tyler said looking at the card. "Wonder what he does?" Owen shrugged as he turned over his card.

"Jupiter, oh cool I'm named after a planet!" Owen said cheerfully with Noah rolling his eyes as he flipped his card over.

"Hey I'm Vulcan." Noah said smiling. Vulcan was a fire god and Noah hoped that meant his weapons were somehow fire related.

"I'm some Venus person." Duncan mumbled confused. Upon hearing this Noah burst out laughing. Duncan glared at him. "What's so funny!?" He shouted. Noah tried to contain himself.

"Oh sorry, Venus is the Roman goddess of Beauty!" Noah said bringing him to another tirade of laughter's. Owen giggled too.

"Wait so that means you're like a chick." Owen said. Duncan growled.

"I want another card!" Duncan demanded. Chris shook his head.

"Dems da breaks Duncan." Chris said walking away. Duncan growled yet again.

**Confessional Cam**

**Duncan: **I wanted to kick Noah's ass so much back there. And I would too if it wasn't for him blackmailing me!

**Noah:** D-Duncan as Venus! *He pauses trying to contain his laughter but then stops trying to* Hahahahah!

**Tyler:** Ha-ha-ha!

**Owen:** Ha-ha-ha!

**End confessional**

"Okay we're done with choosing!" Chris said walking over the center. Noah could also see that Chef pushing a big T.V on a cart to the center. "Cause we're short on time, your matches will be shown on the T.V with whom you'll be fighting. And the matches are!"

Noah saw a mini animation of a deck of cards getting shuffled presumably a loading screen then it flashed to the matches tournament bracket style. It showed a picture of each competitor and below it were the names of the gods they were.

"First match, Tyler and Heather!" Chris announced. Heather glared daggers at Tyler making him cringe. Noah could see from the screen that Heather got Ares as her god.

"Second match, Owen and Courtney!" Noah looked at the T.V that Courtney was Aphrodite.

"Third match, Duncan and Cody!" Duncan smirked at the geek while Cody cringed. He was hermes

"Fourth match is, Alejandro and Sierra!" Noah could see that Sierra was Artemis.

"And finally last match will be: Noah and Gwen!" Noah and Gwen just stared off into each other. No doubt Chris saw their conversation in the cargo hold and wanted to stir up some more drama. Noah saw that Gwen's god was Hephaestus, his Greek counterpart.

"Okay so not to waste any time, contestants follow Chef to where your respective god armor and weapons are." Chris said. Noah shrugged and then followed Chef with the rest of the contestants.

Xxx

"Oh shit." Duncan muttered as he examined what he was wearing as his team walked out of their respective God clothing chambers. He was wearing a women's warriors uniform. He had a belt with perfumes on it to which Noah guessed is used to stun an opponent. Noah then examined himself. He had a small hammer with a symbol on it that was eerily similar to the Fire Nation symbol used in _Avatar: The Last Airbender. _Other than that Noah was dressed in typical armor from ancient Rome.

"Alright gladiators, let's get ready for the first match! Heather and Tyler!" Chris shouted. Noah hearing this backed up from the battlefield and went into one of the stands near his team. Noah then saw Tyler and Heather stand up and walk towards each other and stopping to look one another in the eye. Tyler was jittering and looking nervous while Heather just kept glaring.

"Alright, battlers! You either have to knock your opponent out or make the other one say uncle. Other than that anything is legal so good luck!" Chris said backing away. "FIGHT!"

Heather almost immediately went for a roundhouse kick to Tyler's torso. Tyler stumbled over managed to dodge Heathers left hook and jumped back. Heather kept trying to hit him with a barrage of punches but Tyler was still dodging them all.

"Just let me hit you!" She screamed as she missed another left hook. Tyler seemed to smirk.

"Sorry can't let you do that." He smiled as he dodged another. For what it seemed like many minutes to Noah proceeded Tyler running around the arena dodging Heather's attacks. Noah could see that the more time they Tyler ran from her Heather was getting more tired and her moves getting sloppy. If this was anytime for Tyler to make a move it would be now.

"Come on Tyler you got her on the ropes just make a move!" Alejandro shouted over the stands to his teammate almost reading Noah's thoughts. Tyler got distracted by Alejandro and turned his head to respond.

"I can't hit a gir-"Tyler got kicked in the gut by Heather making him stop midsentence. Heather not wanting to miss this opportunity pulled out a un seethed a plastic sword from her belt (She was Are's meaning the weapon would naturally be a sworded one) wacked Tyler's head with it on the side of the blade (To Chris's disappointment the Lawyers wouldn't allow them to use real swords) Tyler now wounded put his hands to cover his face for anymore future blows. This is where he made his fatal flaw. Heather noticing that his crotch was unguarded swung the sword at it, hard.

"YOOOOWWWWCCCHHH!" Tyler screeched out in pain grabbing the injured area with his hands. Heather smirking went down to eye level with him.

"Want to give it up?" She asked. Tyler in his injured state just nodded his head in pain. Heather now smirking raised her hands in victory.

"And Heather gets a point for Team Amazon!" Chris shouted out to the crowd. Courtney smiled and cheered in approval along with Sierra at this. Gwen just looked away and Cody looked sorry for Tyler, knowing how hard a hit to the groin could be for a guy.

**Confessional Cam**

**Heather: **Okay, I might have gone a little too far but hello, I need to keep up this teams winning streak! I know for a fact that Courtney, Gwen and Sierra will vote for me if we lose meaning I have to make sure the Amazons win until we get to the merge! *Sighs* The only potential ally I have is Cody but that still won't save me for elimination!

**Tyler:** *Still clutching his groin in pain* From now on, I'm going to wear a crotch guard or something all the time from now on. Also I think I'm now afraid of Heather.

**Alejandro: **Incompetent idiot! He didn't have to hit her he just needed to pin her down or something!

**Noah:** I feel sorry for him but hey, better him then me.

**Duncan:** Man, that's funny! Guy got hit in the crotch, classic!

**End Confessional Cams**

"Okay, now that we have that over with the next battle will be between Owen and Courtney!" Courtney smirked at Owen making him cringe, more so then before. If Noah had to guess he must be worried about his crotch now seeing what Heather did to Tyler.

As Owen and Courtney walked into the ring Noah for the first time truly examined what type of armor Owen was wearing. He didn't look so much like Jupiter. He had some gloves on that looked like it weighed a ton and some standard looking battle armor. That was about it. Scanning over to look at Courtney and with what she was wearing made Noah blush a bit. It looked like she had makeup on and she had a shirt on really tight. Basically to Noah she looked like a stripper, big cleavage and all. However Noah did notice that she had bottles of perfume on her belt like Duncan.

"Okay, Courtney and Owen. Let the Duel begin!" Courtney wasted no time giving a sidekick right to Owen's gut. Owen dazed by the kick made his gut fat to knock Courtney off making her fall right into the dirt.

"You fat." Courtney glared as she ran back up again. Owen now scared for his life put his palms up to his face in fear of another kick. Courtney now going for the punch and aiming at Owen's face punched his hands. And then Noah had to sit up because something very interesting happened. She got shocked. Not a big one but a minor one causing her to back off. He could also faintly see the sparks glowing off of Owen's gloves.

"Ow, I think that shocked me!" Courtney said rubbing her hands. Chris grinned.

"Yep! The gloves that Owen has on send out minor electric shocks when they touch something. Making them great for combat." Chris explained. Owen looked up at the gloves.

"Wow, that's awesome!" He said gazing on them. Courtney scowled.

"That's not _fair!_ The only thing I have is some sleazy outfit and bottles of perfume!" Courtney shouted. Chris shrugged.

"Hey, it was the luck of the draw and Owen got the best card. You on the other hand got the worst." Chris explained. Courtney still was mad. "He dosen't even look like Jupiter!" She also chastised.

"Well if you can find a way for Owen to get a six pack and shoot magical lightning from thin air be my guest." Chris replied.

"Fine, whatever." Courtney said glaring back at Owen. "I can still beat you with or without those gloves." She said and punched Owen right into his gut. Owen not expecting tumbled back to the ground. Courtney going for another punch to the stomach got shocked when Owen used his gloves to shock her.

"Sorry." Owen said as he sprang up and ran from her. Courtney growled.

"Come back here and fight!" She said running after him. Courtney being more fit caught up to him fast but Owen just shocked her whenever she got close to her. This went on for a few times before Courtney stopped running.

"Got to find another strategy." The C.I.T thought. She looked at her opponent. Owen to nice of a guy didn't like to go on the offensive and only resorted to counter attacking Courtney's moves meaning she knew she had time to strategize. She glanced down to her belt to reveal a small vile of perfume. If she could throw it at Owens face then maybe it would stun him long enough to attack him without giving him time to block.

"Is that the ice cream truck I hear?" Courtney asked pulling out the vile of perfume. Of course anyone could tell she was lying but to Owen he thought she was being serious.

"Ice cream, where!" He spun around excitingly oblivious to the fact that she was lying. Noah noticing this tried to warn him.

"There is no ice cream Owen!" He yelled but the big lug just kept scanning for it_. Ice cream; another thing he cares about more than me_ Noah thought in disgust.

"Here's your ice cream!" Courtney screamed as she threw the perfume at him. A haze of pink and purple surrounded Owens face as he coughed.

"Cack-Cack." Owen wheezed. Courtney not wanting to let this opportunity go to waste punched Owen right in the gut. She then tried to do a round house kick to the side of his torso which succeeded leaving Owen to tumble down in the dirt.

"Come on Owen." Noah said not wanting to see his big friend go down. Then an idea entered his mind that could somehow turn the tables. He went near Duncan and whispered something in his ear. Duncan swung his head to face him.

"What?" He asked to clarify. Noah frowned.

"Just do it, Owen can't last much longer out there so it's our only shot. You do want to win don't you?" He asked. Duncan scowled.

"Fine." He muttered a reply. Duncan then stood up on one of the bleachers.

"Courtney you really look smokin, in that outfit!" Duncan hollered into the arena. Courtney dazed went to look at him.

"Dunca-

"NOW OWEN!" Noah screamed to the large teen. Owen a little dazed of what Noah was saying finally understood and used his pointer fingers to poke Courtney.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry." Owen said as he poked her with his electric fingers.

"Ow, ow YOWCH!" Courtney hollered back stumbling back at the force of the electric shock. She finally tumbled to the ground.

"Aw jeez sorry Courtney!" Owen said sadly seeing her tumbling over. "I didn't mean to hurt you!" Courtney just glared back at him.

"You fat son of a-." Courtney tried to get up and punch him but her limbs couldn't move correctly. "Why can't I move!" Courtney said as she tried to get up. Noah widened his eyes.

"Must've paralyzed her." He mumbled to Duncan. Duncan nodded back.

"Yep." He agreed.

"And it seems that Courtney can't move!" Chris said looking at the two competitors. "Courtney do you yield to Owen?" He asked. Courtney shook her head.

"NEVER!" She yelled back and kept struggling to get up. Owen just looked awkward standing there. Noah knew that Owen hated to do this. Owen never wanted to hurt people, physically or mentally.

"Okay, Courtney if you can't move in the next 5 seconds Owen will win!" Chris announced. "1.-' Courtney tried to struggle but it was to no avail. "2-'

"Come on Courtney!" Gwen yelled on to her friend.

"3, 4, 5. And Owen takes a point for Team Chris is Really Really Really Really Hot!" He announced.

**Confessional Cam**

**Gwen: **What was Duncan calling Courtney 'hot' for? I mean I can figure out that he was trying to throw her off her game but what if he really thought… *Sighs*

**Duncan:** I know I'm with Gwen now and everything but I didn't really mind what Noah told me to do. I mean she did look kind a hot with that shirt on…

**Noah:** We really need to win this challenge. I was half tempted to throw this challenged so I can have another chance of sending Alejandro home but it was too risky. Besides if the Amazons lose then Heather would probably be the next to go and after seeing her knee Tyler in the groin she's looking like a threat. That's why I told Duncan to say that to Courtney, throw her off her game.

**End Confessional Cam**

"Alright after Chef gets Courtney to the infirmary." Chris said looking behind his shoulder to find that the black Chef was carrying her off to first aid. "We can go to our third match! Which will be, and this will be a good one, Duncan and Cody!" Cody gulped as he walked into the ring to face the criminal. Duncan on the other hand was smirking.

**Confessional Cam**

**Duncan: **This will be easy!

**Cody:** Why did I have to pair with Duncan! *Sighs first but then a look of determination crosses his face* No, I refuse to be eliminated due to injury again!

**End Confessional Cams**

Duncan and Cody both looked at each other as they entered the ring. Duncan smirked as he saw Cody's face.

"DUEL!" Chris shouted giving his signal that they could start battling. Duncan grinning immediately went on the offensive, running towards Cody getting ready for a punch. Cody somehow dodged the attack and sprinted off in the other direction.

"Why you little." Duncan murmured as he looked at him running. Growling he took off after Cody. Cody looking behind him and seeing that Duncan was closing in was in a panic. Scanning if something was in his belt that he could use. However the only thing he could find were blank envelopes. Even though Cody was Hermes he didn't think delivering letters would be that useful

"Yo dorkus!" Duncan yelled startling Cody as he tackled him.

"Gah!" Cody screamed trying to struggle from Duncan. Duncan lying on top of Cody so he was on the front of his torso and started to pull his arm.

"Just say uncle and I'll stop!" Duncan laughed as he pulled harder on Cody's arm. Noah actually cringed as he saw Cody getting beat up like this. Hopefully he wouldn't piss him off for Duncan to do that to him. Sierra's eyes also widened as he saw this and she growled.

"Stay-off-my-CODYKINS!" She suddenly shrieked trying to run at Duncan with Heather and Gwen holding her back. "Lemme at him, lemme at him!" Sierra said struggling to get out of both of their teammates hands.

"Better make sure she stays back Amazons; if Sierra interferes then Team Me will receive a point." Chris murmured seeing Sierra struggle. Noah frowned as he thought what was going to happen next with two scenarios playing out in his mind. Duncan knocking Cody out giving his team the point or Sierra struggling free from Heather and Gwen and pouncing on Duncan which would disqualify Cody. Noah hoped for the later because he didn't want to have Cody to injured from Duncan. He still needed an ally for the merge after all.

"Come on Cody!" Heather shouted as she held the struggling Sierra back. "You can do it!" Heather tried to encourage. _Strange _Noah thought. Heather encouraging a fellow teammate? He also found it weird how Gwen didn't seem to encourage Cody at all. Then as if Cody heard Heather's words of encouragement mustered all the power he could find and managed to get his arm out of Duncan's grasp. Then with break neck speed he gave the delinquent a right hook to the jaw.

"Damn!" Duncan cursed as he got off guard. Cody seeing the criminal was dismayed kicked him in the gut which fully freed Cody from Duncan's grasp. Knowing this was a window of escaping Duncan he ran away. Heather growled.

"Come on Cody here's your chance! Don't run from him!" Heather cried.

"Yeah Codykins, you show that mean ol Duncan who's boss!" Sierra also said who now seeing Cody's escape was no longer trying to pummel Duncan. Cody turned around hearing his team's orders and tried to run back towards Duncan. Duncan who was now standing up could see Cody coming towards him. He was smirking. Cody was in a woozy state and now running like a drunkard swaying back and forth with each pace. Extending his arm he turned he then turned it to a fist and waited.

"Cody open your eyes you idiot! You're going to run right into his hand!" Heather tried to warn. Cody still running turned his head to the side.

"Heather, what do yo-'Suddenly Cody fell at the force of Duncan's fist that he ran into. Right in his left jaw. Cody's eyes turned white as he fell to the ground tumbling, dropping his letters as he fell. Duncan smirking triumphantly raised his hands in victory.

"And Duncan wins for Team Me!" Chris declared. "Oh and Chef you might want to check if Cody's still alive." He then said pointing to the now limp body.

"YOU HURT MY CODY!" Sierra pointing to Duncan as she shrieked. She then broke into a sprint that was aiming right towards the delinquent.

"Oh shit." Duncan cursed as she saw the purple haired stalker run towards him. He tried to dart out of her way but Sierra was too quick and gave him a punch to the face. Duncan fell down in shock with Sierra jumping on top of him to pummel him some more. Noah chuckled seeing the delinquent get beat up by a girl.

"Chris shouldn't you stop her!" Gwen turned to the host. Chris waved his hand.

"Aw come on, our viewers love to see people get beaten up." Chris said. Gwen just stared at him coldly. Chris sighed.

"Alright fine, Chef gets her off of him." Chris instructed to Chef who was busy examining Cody. Soon after Chef finally pulled Sierra from Duncan who was knocked out and beaten up as much as Cody. Chef deciding that neither Cody nor Duncan could compete for the rest of the day ordered some interns to help carry them to the plane for some first aid treatment.

"Alright our rent time expires in about 20 minutes so I have an idea that could speed things up." Chris started to explain. "The two final matches will be merged into one which will mean it will be a 2 v. 2 match. So it's Noah and Alejandro vs. Gwen and Sierra to determine the winner of the first part of today's challenge." Noah sighed as he heard this news. Not only was his fight occurring sooner than expected but he had to work with Alejandro. Yay.

"So how do you want to go about this?" Alejandro said looking at their two competitors as they walked on the arena. Noah shrugged. _Maybe you can manipulate them to lose, like you did with Bridgette._ Noah thought to himself. Alejandro seeing Noah wasn't answering him decided for himself.

"Well to make things more simpler for the both of us if you and I were to just try to focus our attacks on our competitors before the fights merge. So then not one of us will get overwhelmed." Noah blinked.

"So I fight Gwen?" Noah mused. Alejandro nodded.

"Is that a problem?" Alejandro asked. Noah shook his head.

"No, not a problem." Noah answered. Actually Noah did feel off on fighting Gwen. Even before the competition Noah didn't hate, he didn't like her by any stretch but he certainly didn't dislike her in anyway. And now with their alliance it just felt weird to him that he would have to fight her. Noah looking across from himself stared at Gwen. She wasn't giving him the look of a glare like she did in the cargo hold this morning. Her look was one of uncertainty and if it was Gwen nervous fighting him or her being worried about Duncan he couldn't say for certain.

"DUEL!" Chris erupted breaking Noah's thoughts. Noah could see Sierra sprinting towards Alejandro trying to get a counter attack. Knowing it was his time to make his move he locked eyes with Gwen one last time. Whatever plans Noah and Gwen made didn't matter at this time. They both knew for now just to try their best and try to have a win for their team. With that tacit agreement made up Noah picked up his hammer as Gwen did with hers.

Gwen made the first move as she started to jog towards him slowly. Noah felt his belt to try to see if Chris put anything in there to have this situation to this advantage. He pulled out 3 small black pebbles. Noah not knowing what they did just looked at him for a second but picked his head up as he saw Gwen was almost as arm's length of his.

"Urgh!" Gwen strained as she tried to slam her hammer to Noah's armored protected shoulder. Noah felt a vibration through his shoulder at that. Thankfully they were the both of them were the best armored because without the armor Noah knew he wouldn't stand a chance. Stumbling from the blow he dropped the pebbles which exploded on contact.

"Ow!" Noah and Gwen both yelped backing away from each other.

"Yep, those mini pebbles explode on contact. Since the lawyers didn't allow me to give you two flamethrowers it was the best I could come up with for a weapon resembling fire." Chris explained. Noah recovered from the mini explosions faster than Gwen and slammed his hammer at Gwen's shoulder. Despite using all the force he could muster Noah could see it did barely anything to Gwen. She smirked at him.

"That all you got?" Gwen said in one of her rare moments of taunting. Noah couldn't help smirk back.

"No." He said plainly throwing a few more pebbles at her feet. He backed up quick enough for them to explode under Gwen causing her to fall backwards.

"Damn it." Gwen cursed under her breath seeing Noah going near her. He raised his hammer making her think he would go for a physical attack causing her to block with her hammer. However Noah predicted that she would do this and instead of swinging his hammer he threw a few more pebbles Gwen's way. Gwen tried to stumble away from the exploding pebbles but they sent her stumbling in another direction. Noah smirked at this.

_I got her on the ropes but sooner or later I have to change my strategy. If I keep throwing the pebbles at her she's bound to wise up and start counterattacking properly. If only I could use the hammer better. _

Noah thought. Noah saw that in his time contemplating Gwen got back up on her feet breathing heavily. She was dressed in female warrior armor leaving her belly exposed which looked red from the pebbles blasting on her.

"Give up yet?" Noah said. Gwen shook her head.

"Not that easy, no." She replied causing Noah to smirk.

"Guess I have to try harder than do I?" He mused. Gwen smirked in return.

"I guess I have to too." She replied. Just then Noah felt sheer adrenaline start to pump through his veins. Before he was uneasy fighting Gwen but now he was starting to like it. He didn't like it because he hated her and want her hurt, it was something else. Something about Gwen…

He shakes it out of his mind as he drew his weapon as did Gwen. Staring at each other again, Gwen started to sprint towards him with Noah doing the same. Raising their weapons in the air Gwen and even Noah let out a battle cry as they prepared to fight again.

Xxx

"I'll do this for you Cody!" Sierra yelled with adrenaline as she kept punching Alejandro. She managed to trick him faking for a left hook but then going for the right and now she got him off guard. Alejandro on the other hand was trying to find a way to fight Sierra but not actually hurt her. He still needed to maintain his persona of being nice after all. Suddenly Sierra did a sweep kick causing Alejandro to fall on his rear.

"I give up!" Alejandro shouted before Sierra had a chance to punch him. Sierra gave him a weird look.

"Give up… YAY I WON!" She shouted in triumph. Alejandro sighed as he shook his head. His best course of action was in his opinion to give in to Sierra. He couldn't possibly beat her without hurting her and he didn't want to look like a fool for getting beat up like a girl. Like Tyler.

"Wow, I seriously didn't see that coming! Now I guess we have to see if Gwen or Noah will win!" Chris said turning his attention toward the Noah and Gwen battle. Alejandro himself turned to the other fight himself.

_Wonder how that little annoyance will fair against that goth?_ Alejandro thought as he watched.

Xxx

Noah thought that this would never be over. It felt like it had been eternity since they first started the fight with Gwen countering every move he tried to make. As he dodged Gwen's hammer for about the millionth time he knew he had to try a different strategy. Glancing at his pouch he had only 5 fire pebbles left, when those ran out he would be finished. He certainly didn't do quite well with his hammer.

_She's getting weary though, one more solid hit on her and I'll win._ He mused trying to hit her with his hammer again but missing. Gwen tried to hit his feet but he jumped back. _The armor is protecting her the most so if I try to figure away out of tha- Aha! _Noah figured out what he would have to do. Raising his hammer he charged at Gwen like a bull but with Noah's poor speed Gwen easily slammed her hammer into the side of him making him tumble to the ground.

Gwen assumed that Noah was going to counter attack but just laid their like a limp noodle. Gwen who was puzzled walked up to the lying down egghead. She squatted down trying to see if she truly had knocked him out. Noah could feel her breath on his face, her face was mere inches from his. Noah felt his face flush but continued to stay limp until it was the right moment to strike. Opening his eyes for a brief moment he could see that there was an opening in her armor. However it was her cleavage.

Scanning if there were other openings he could use but finding none he sighed knowing what he would have to do. He suddenly sprang up as he took one of the pebble rocks.

"Noah!" Gwen shouted surprised as he sprang. Noah taking one of the rocks threw it in the narrow opening. His hand almost touched her boob. The mini explosion detonated in her armor making Gwen stagger and fall making her clutch her chest in pain. Noah breathed heavily as he stood up.

"And from a come from behind victory, Noah wins the first part of the challenge for team me!" Chris shouted out to the crowd with TCIRRRRH erupting in cheers.

"Okay, okay we gotta go pronto now before the Vatican comes and charges us some more for staying here late…" Noah nodded as he followed him glancing back at Gwen who was getting helped up by Sierra and Heather.  
His team looked like they were on good standings considering Cody and Courtney both had to go to the infirmary meaning that they can't compete (Not that Noah was happy they got hurt but still)

Noah still had Duncan and Gwen at his fingertips for votes meaning he was one of the strongest players in the game right now. What could go wrong?

**A/N- Yep so Team Chris one the first half of the challenge. The next part of the challenge will have more down time meaning for more interactions from Noah and the fellow competitors. Hopefully I didn't end it to abruptly though…**

**ewisko8-**


	4. When in Rome Pt2

**Authors Notes: The second part to the Italy challenge! Now before I get down to business I like to inform everyone that a lot of people are asking me if this story if Gwuncan or Gwoah. The answer in short is…. You have to find out at the end. Yes I can say for certain that Noah will be with someone by the end of this story. If it's Gwen or not that's for you guys to find out :) **

**Anyway this will have an elimination ceremony meaning this chapter will have my first AU elimination. Hopefully I did it well.**

**Also if anyone that's reading this has never heard Stairway to Heaven or Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen before then I want you to hit that back button go onto Youtube and hear them this instant before you read this. Not only are they fantastic songs but they play a role in this chapter. Which you'll all see as you read.**

"When do you think we're gonna get there?" Tyler mused glancing at the window to his right. Noah who was to his left shrugged.

"Whatever it is it's not going to be in Rome." Noah deduced sighing. After they had done competing in the coliseum Chris made all of the contestants go on a bus where it would take them to their next challenge. He told them it would be about a 2 hour drive from Rome to wherever they were going next to compete which was a distance too small for the plane to fly to with it making any sense. It would be more affordable if they just rented a bus to drive them there.

Both teams were on different sides of the bus; The Amazons were on the right while Noah's team was on the left side. Noah also heard that Chris announced that Cody, Courtney and Duncan were going to arrive their by taxi meaning that their injuries weren't as severe as Chef predicted. Noah was a little disappointed that they wouldn't have an upper hand though…

The long bus ride also meant that Noah could think about his next move in the game. Of course his first objective was for Alejandro to be gone of course, but he wasn't sure how he should go about it. He didn't want to throw this challenge but there was a small fear that his team would win every challenge until the merge. Noah knew that wasn't likely but it was always a possibility. And even though Noah wanted Alejandro gone as soon as possible he knew that he would get rid of another strong competitor if his team won: Heather. Courtney, Gwen and Sierra would probably vote for her Noah was sure of that.

However he needed to fully utilize his votes from Duncan and Gwen because Noah had no idea how long they wanted to keep themselves a secret. Gwen wanted to but Duncan seemed like he could care less about anyone knowing. So as long as Gwen still cared Noah was still in the clear at least for the short term.

But Alejandro still had players at his disposal too: Owen and Tyler and with the exception of Owen, Tyler and Alejandro would vote for him the first chance they got. Noah sighed as the name Tyler rung in his ears. Before the London challenge Noah actually liked Tyler but now it seemed that Alejandro has convinced Tyler otherwise.

_Another person he's turned against me_ Noah thought in disgust.

"Okay competitors, we've arrived at our next destination: Mila's Teatro ala Salca!" Chris announced as the bus screeched to a halt.

"Teatro ah what?" Owen said confused. Noah rolled his eyes.

"Teatro ala Salca. One of the most famous opera houses in the world?" Noah corrected Owen but was now confused. "How on earth did you afford to rent this place out?" Noah turned his head to ask Chris. Chris smiled.

"Believe me Noah, it was a ton of cash! But hopefully if things work out we can get all of it back and then some." Chris muttured the last part softly. Heather raised her eyebrow.

"What do you mean if things 'work out?" She asked. Chris smiled.

"All will be explained eventually now file off the bus everyone!" Chris ordered as Noah and everyone else around him exited the bus.

Xxx

"This place is humungous!" Owen said in awe as they filed in to the main area. Noah glanced around to see hundreds of chairs in rows not to mention the balconies. How much money did they spend to rent this place out?

"Attention competitors!" Chris announced climbing up on the stage. "Time to explain part 2 of the Italy challenge! Now you might of all figures out by now that I didn't order a song yet right?" Chris asked. Noah nodded his head as well as everyone else in the room. Noah was thankful that Chris didn't make them sing during the gladiator challenge. It would have made to fight Gwen a lot more difficult.

"That's because this whole challenge will be a singing challenge!" Chris announced.

"Aw more cruddy singing." Duncan mumbled. Noah turned around to see that the delinquent plus Cody and Courtney were walking towards them. Chris smirked.

"I guess you guys are all better now." He mumbled seeing Duncan going towards team Chris and Cody and Courtney to team Amazon. Noah saw that Sierra was growling towards Duncan and glaring. Duncan gulped.

**Confessional**

**Duncan:** Look I did not get beat up by a girl! She just surprised me that's all. *He cringed at the thought of Sierra punching him again.

**Sierra: **Chris might've saved that meanie this time but not for long! He'll pay for hurting my Cody kins!

**End Confessional**

As Chris saw everyone get into place he began to announce the challenge.

"This won't be like a normal singing challenge though. Both teams will have to perform a number which can include dancing as well but you don't really have to add it."

Courtney raised her hand. "Does it have to be an original song?" Chris shook his head.

"No, you can sing any song you want. I'd recommend that because trying to make up a good song's challenging. Another thing I'd like to add is to the back of the theatre-" Chris stopped mid sentence to point behind the curtain. "There will be a store room with instruments that both teams can use for the song. So it doesn't totally have to be singing related."

"That won't be problem amigos. I know how to play an abundance of instruments." Alejandro announced. Noah rolled his eyes.

"And as a special twist the songs won't be judged by Chef or I." Chris said glancing to Noah.

"Noah remember how you asked me how we could afford renting the coliseum and opera house?" Chris asked. Noah nodded. Chris smirked.

"Well the network decided that this will be a live concert! Yep, real people paid money to go to a live concert to see you guys sing. Which will be at about 8:00." As Chris was explaining the challenge further Noah remembered something. Wanting to know what it was he raised his hand.

"What about our reward that we won last time?" Noah asked. "You did remember that right?" As Noah asked that question he could see Chris's face contort into an almost psychotic grin.

"Oh yes Noah I have. For Team Chris is really really really really really hot award you will receive a helper that will help you prepare and perform your piece of music. Kind off hoping he'd be with Team Amazon but I think this will work just as well. Please welcome former Total Drama competitor: Trent!" Chris shouted pointing to stage right. Soon the green shirted guitar player walked out on stage. Noah heard Gwen gasp as she saw him. Duncan looked startled but less so.

"Glad to be back here." Trent said jumping off the stage and walking to Noah's team.

"Also for clarification Trent is _**not**_ back in the competition but only to help you guys with your next challenge." Chris explained. Noah didn't even here what Chris had to say. His stomach was full of knots.

Trent was here. Trent watched the last episode. Trent watched Duncan and Gwen kiss. Trent watched Noah blackmail them into an alliance. Trent could tell everyone about it.

_No!_ Noah screamed inside his head. It can't end like this. Noah wouldn't allow it. He had worked too hard for his efforts to be dashed like this. Maybe Trent won't tell anyone about this.

"Noah you okay buddy." Owen put his hand on Noah's shoulder seeing how hard Noah was breathing. Noah blinked and looked up at him.

"Nothing. I'm fine." Noah tried to hide his face from fear. He had no idea how much outward emotion he was showing just now. Owen smiled back and shrugged.

"How do we win?" Tyler asked breaking Noah's thoughts.

"After the two performances the audience will vote for which number they liked best. Yadda-yadda-yadda whichever team wins the vote wins and the losing team will be sending home a player tonight. Also if any of you want to go explore the city for inspiration you're welcome to do that." Chris answered as he glanced at his watch. "Okay synchronize your watches people and meet back here with your numbers at 8:00 Italy time." Chris ended his explanation signifying that he released the competitors to start the challenge.

Xxx

"Okay amigos, I say we should hand over the reins to Trent considering he's the one with the most musical experience." Alejandro said clasping his hands together. His team was on the left side of the opera house while the Amazons were to the right of it. Trent looked a bit taken aback by Alejandro's offer but nodded his head

"Thanks man. Now do any of you dudes know any songs you guys would want to do first off." Trent mumbled. Noah noticed immediately that Trent sounded off. The last sentence he said was odd and his voice sounded a little high.

"_American Pie?"_ Tyler suggested. Trent snapped his fingers.

"Yeah that's good! First song I've ever learned to play matter a fact. Anything else?"

"Ooo! Ooo! There's this one song I know called erm aaa." Owen scratched his head trying to remember it. "Baba- Baba something." Owen muttured.

"Baba O Riley?" Trent thought. Owen nodded.

"Yeah! That's the one!" Owen answered. Trent nodded again.

"That's another good one! So-' This is where Noah zoned out. Trent might've been a good musician but all he did thus far was just compliment everyone's song ideas. He was just concerned if Trent would keep his mouth shut on the whole him blackmailing Gwen and Duncan fiasco. Trent of course would be concerned with that. He was blackmailing his ex-girlfriend. And he had just found out that his girlfriend had started dating another guy. Noah was really surprised how Trent masked his sadness so far.

"Noah do you have any ideas?" Trent asked breaking Noah's thoughts. Noah blinked but shrugged.

"No." He stated simply. Trent frowned.

"Come on man, any idea would be helpful." Noah frowned right back at Trent. Trent's voice like before squeaked a little bit as he spoke to him making Noah feel uncomfortable.

"No." He stated simply again. Trent shrugged giving up.

"Fine then." He replied.

"How about some metal music." Duncan suggested. Trent looked like he froze as he turned his head towards the delinquent. "Something kind off _gothic_ would be nice also." Duncan said almost sneering at Trent. Noah took a moment to figure out what Duncan was doing but then it hit him. He was mocking Trent how he was dating Gwen now. Duncan wasn't that stupid. He must've realized that Trent watched the last episode like he did and instead of being afraid that Trent might tell everyone he was treating it like a game. A game that Duncan was enjoying immensely.

"Why would you think metal would be good?" Trent asked behind gritted teeth. Duncan grinned.

"Well you know since we're in a pretty old place I'd thought we would try to do something to remember the _Gothic _people. Come on Trent you remember the _Goths_ don't you Trent." Duncan chuckled.

"Hey man knock it off." Tyler said coldly intervening. Duncan raised his eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" He replied. Tyler frowned.

"You don't have to make fun of the guy you know. He probably is still hurting about _Gwen."_ Tyler responded. Noah felt an overwhelming urge to smack Tyler upside the head. Of course Tyler picked up on how Trent was feeling but it was more embarrassing to mention it full blown then to just make it eerily implied. Tyler meant well but he sure was stupid.

"Duncan whatever feelings I have for Gwen or did have doesn't matter. Can we just put that aside for now." Trent said trying to recover from embarrassment. "I'm pretty sure if our roles were reversed you wouldn't want me to reveal any secrets about you now." Trent said staring at Duncan. Noah's eyes widened. Trent was threating to tell everyone! Duncan seemed to get the message to and growled.

"Fine." Duncan complied. Trent nodded his head.

"Good, so out of all of the songs you guys want to do what do you want to do the most?" He asked trying to get the group back on track.

"Stairway to Heaven." Tyler answered with Alejandro and Owen responding with the same answer. Duncan growled with a yes which left Trent to turn to Noah for an answer. Noah just shrugged.

"Sure whatever." Noah mumbled with Trent nodding.

"Okay stairway it is. I know already Alejandro knows how to play guitar but who else can play it? You don't have to be super good at it, you just have to strum some chords.". Duncan raised his hand.

"Picked up a little from juvy. Nothing fancy but a few chords." Duncan said. Owen had a similar guitar history as Duncan which he stated to Trent. One of his brothers taught him some chords.

"Tyler, Noah you guys know how?" Trent said turning to the both of them. Tyler shook his head.

"Sorry I never played an instrument before." Tyler said. Trent nodded.

"Noah you ever played?" Trent asked. Noah shook his head.

"No, sorry." He mumbled. Trent shrugged it off.

"No problem, I can teach you two the chords no sweat."

"If I may interject." Alejandro interjected. "If I teach Tyler and you teach Noah the chords to the song it would go faster." Al suggested. Trent shrugged but smiled.

"Makes sense. Great idea Al." He thanked. Alejandro cringed having been called Al but smiled back. Trent clasped his hands together knowing the plan.

"Okay then! I guess I can go with Noah to practice and you with Tyler." He turned to Duncan and Owen. "You guys won't mind if we don't ask you to do anything for a while will you." Owen shrugged.

"Chris said we could go into the city for inspiration so Duncan and I can do that, right Dunc." Owen said nudging his shoulder with Duncan gruffing a similar reply. Noah now noticing what the plan was raised up with Trent.

"Let's go over there to practice." Trent said holding the guitar and walking. He was pointing to an corner area of the theatre that was unoccupied. Noah nodded his head but inside he knew he was going to hate this.

Xxx

It felt awkward as Noah and Trent sat there with both of their guitars (Trent got him one from the back but it to Noah's annoyance it had MLP stickers on it) they have been practicing sure but Noah and Trent both knew what the other one was thinking. Noah finally decided to stop bullshitting around this and spoke up.

"Are we going to talk about last episode or not." Noah said abruptly as he stopped strumming his chord. Trent stopped his chord as well and looked startled. He nodded his head.

"I guess better now than later." He replied. "Hopefully I can persuade you of what I have to say." Trent said putting down his guitar. Noah smirked.

"I highly doubt it but you can try." Noah replied knowing full well what Trent was trying to do. Trent took a long sigh before he spoke.

"Don't get me wrong Noah, Alejandro is a jerk no question about it. I saw just like you how he got rid of Bridgette, LeShawna and DJ plus a few others." Trent said stumbling to find the right words. "But this isn't the right way to take him down, to take anyone down." Trent paused waiting for Noah to respond. Noah frowned back but then smirked and chuckled.

"Don't pretend to be the unbiased person here. You only care because I'm blackmailing Gwen, you can care less about Duncan." Noah replied. Trent look startled once again but nodded.

"Well you hit the nail on the head with that one I guess. You're right, I _hate_ Duncan. But you know full well that Gwen doesn't deserve this. So for her sake, please call this off." Trent ended once again. Noah shook his head again.

"You're treating this as if I'm going to use Gwen's vote to be like Heather." Noah said. Trent shook his head.

"Noah I'm not saying you're Heather I just feel like- Urgh!" Trent clasped his hair in frustration. "I just can't explain it right for some reason! Just please for the sake of Gwen." He ended. Noah quirked an eyebrow.

"I marvel at your use at the English language." Noah said rolling his eyes. Trent shook his head.

"Whatever Noah, I just wanted to let you hear my side of things." Trent said darkly. Noah wondered why Trent cared so much. Of course he still cared about Gwen but didn't he want Alejandro to go? Of course it wasn't a graduate that Noah would get rid of him but he didn't care that the most manipulative contestant had a chance at getting a boot from the show? Noah rolled his eyes and shrugged dropping the argument as he continued strumming chords with Trent.

Xxx

"This food is great!" Owen cheered stuffing another piece of pizza in his mouth. Duncan looked at Owen from a distance and smiled.

"Yeah this stuff ain't that bad." Duncan said taking a bite of another slice. After roaming the city for a little bit the duo found a small Italian place and ordered some slices of pizza pie. They were currently sitting at a table next to the establishment enjoying their meal people watching. Duncan remembered that Trent wanted them to be back at least 3 hours before the concert to put it all together but Duncan didn't really care. What was Trent going to do if they were a half an hour late.

Duncan sighed looking to the street to see the many people walking. What confused him is that no one recognized them from the show yet. And yet Chris must've put up some commercials saying that the contestants from an international reality show success were going to perform on stage, why didn't anyone notice them yet?

But that wasn't nearly on top of Duncan's list of things to think about right now. That spot was held by Gwen, the goth that for some reason was trying to avoid him after they kissed. What was her damage? After being essentially being stalked by that weirdo Trent why wouldn't she like him. Gwen liked him right?

"Damn it…" Duncan cursed quietly. Owen noticed this.

"Did you say something Duncan?" Owen asked looking up at him. Duncan looked up and shook his head.

"Nothing Owen." Duncan replied annoyed that he broke his thoughts. Owen shrugged and went back to eating but he gulped first.

"Hey a Duncan, can I ask you something?" Owen asked. Duncan eyebrow was raised.

"What?" Duncan asked. Owen sighed.

"Do you think after the show I have a chance with Izzy again?" He asked sighing. Duncan simply shrugged.

"I don't know man. Why are you asking me anyway?" He asked back. Owen sighed.

"I don't know, it's just you got back together with Courtney so many times that I thought you'd might have some pointers on how to get chicks back." Owen shrugged and picked up a piece of pepperoni from his pizza. "This piece kind of looks like her too…" He mumbled before taking a bite out of it. Duncan shrugged again.

"I don't know Owen." He said honestly. "But speaking of which I think I'm gonna break up with that bitch." Duncan muttered that last part softly but Owen picked up on that.

"Oh…" Owen replied not knowing what to say. For some reason Duncan got mad about that remark.

"Oh! I thought you'd be happy, she screwed you over last season." Duncan reminded angrily. Owen shrugged.

"I already won one before so I guess it doesn't really matter to me." Owen said.

"But you didn't even get the grand prize because you agreed to the special challenge." Duncan replied. Owen just sat there thinking for a minute.

"Oh yeah…" Owen said but shrugged again. "But who cares! I'm hanging out with one of my best buds in the place with the best food! What more can a guy ask for?" Owen said happily before taking a bite at his pizza again. Duncan marveled at how happy Owen was acting. I guess it wasn't really surprising coming from that guy.

"Yo Owen, do you think after I ditch Courtney you think I have a shot with Gwen?" Duncan asked. Owen was a bit taken a back by this and hand touched his chin in a thinking position but then smiled.

"Gwen's really nice, I think you have a chance." Owen said before taking another bite of his slice. Duncan grinned proud of himself. If it was anyone else he wouldn't of dared to relay so much information but because it was Owen he didn't really care.

_He probably wouldn't even care if he knew I kissed Gwen before I dumped Courtney _

Duncan thought taking another slice of pie from the table.

Xxx

Noah was amazed at how the theater filled up so quickly after the doors opened for the perfomence. Looking out to the crowd he could see throngs of people trying to find their seats. He himself was standing behind the curtain waiting for Chris to introduce the contest. Duncan and Owen arrived a mere hour ago leaving them very little time to practice so Noah didn't think they were in good standings at winning.

_Another chance to send home Al though._

Noah thought smirking. Soon he saw the sadistic host enter from stage left waving to the crowd.

"Hello and welcome! You all will be playing a very special role in deciding which team will win this week's challenge! And from that ultimately play a part in who will be the next one kicked off the plane! You all will be seeing two musical performances one from each team, Amazon and Team me. So let's get started shall we? First up we have Team Amazon with their rendition of _Bohemian Rap City by Queen!"_ After Chris said that he sprinted off the stage and the whole set turned pitch black with darkness. Soon the spotlight came on and Cody walked onto with the rest of the Amazons. However the spotlight was mostly centered around Cody.

_Is this the real life or is this fantasy? Rolling a landslide. Come straight from reality… _Cody sang softly. As he moved onto the next verse the two other minor spotlights lighted up and focused on Gwen and Sierra who began harmonizing with him.

_Open your eyes and look up to the sky and see... _ Gwen and Sierra harmonized with Cody. Soon the spotlights shone on Heather and Courtney as the joined them.

_I'm just a poor boy I need no sympathy…. _Instead of all of the Amazons singing this verse was only Cody as the rest of the Amazons pointed to him. _Because I'm easy come easy go, A little high, little low_

_Anyway the wind blows doesn't really matter to me…_ Cody continued to harmonize by himself.

_To me… _Cody sang. Soon Cody pulled out a toy gun from his pocket as well as a cell phone from his pocket. All of the 4 girls except Sierra backed away from the stage a bit as Sierra and Cody put each of their phones against their ears.

_Mama, just killed a man… _Cody sang sadly while Sierra put a horrified expression on her face. _Mama put a gun against his head_ –Cody simulated him pulling the trigger on his fake gun- _pulled the trigger now he's dead. Mama life had just begun. But now I've thrown it all away..._

Sierra and Cody both quickly stashed the phones into their pockets as the other 3 girls ran back to the stage.

_Mama- _Cody sang while the girls echoed with 'Oooooh' _Didn't mean to make you cry, if I'm not back again this time tomorrow. Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters….._

_Too late my time has come…._

Noah was amazed at Cody' singing voice as he continued singing with the other Amazons ocassionally singing 'Oooohss. His eyes glanced to Gwen who Noah was surprised how good she was singing. Didn't Goth's hate doing that type of stuff? After Cody stopped singing the verse a brief pause they had and Noah thought something was wrong with them on set.

_I see a little silhouette of a man _Cody sang.

_Scaramouche, Scaramouche will you do the fandango? _The rest of the girls echoed.

_Thunder Bolt and Lightning very very frightening me! _Cody and the girls sang

_Galileo_ Courtney sang

_Galileo _Heather chorused.

_Galileo _Sierra sang

_Galileo _Gwen sung.

_Galileo Figaro manifico-o-o-o! _Cody ended the verse. _I'm just a poor boy nobody loves me. _Cody sang again pointing to himself.

_He's just a poor boy, from a poor family! Spare him from his life from this monstrosity!_ All the girls sang pointing at Cody.

_Easy come, easy go. Will you let me go? _Cody sang.

_Bismillah! No we will not let you go. _Courtney and Gwen answered.

_Let him go! _Heather and Sierra sang. Noah saw this was repeated a few times before the next new words of the song began.

_Will you not let me go? Let me go-o-o-o! _Cody sang out. _Oh mama mia mama mia, mama mia let me go! _

_Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me, for me! _Cody echoed again loudly. _So you can stone me and spit in my eye! _He sang loudly. _So you think you can love me and leave me to die!_ Cody ran to the front of the stage for the next verse

_Oh baby!_ Cody sang while winking at the hundreds of girls in the audience who erupted in cheers. _Can't do this to me baby!_ Cody now pretending he was trying to get out of a large box. _Just gotta get out! Just gotta get right out of here! _He runs back to the stage and his spotlight turns blue and his expression drops significantly.

_Nothing really matters. Anyone can see. Nothing really matters. Nothing really matters…._ There was a long pause before Cody sang the final line. _To me…._ Cody sang ever so softly. Noah almost fell out of his seat at the sound the crowd was making to the Amazons. Mostly were shouts of hormone crazed fan girls trying to get into Cody's pants. Cody just showed his gap tooth grin and smirked to the crowd.

"Thank you! Thank you!" He said bowing while the Amazons bowed with him except Gwen who exited the stage as soon as Cody stopped singing not wanting to be in the spotlight more than she needed to be.

"Well Freddy Mercury would be proud!" Chris congratulated as he walked on the stage as the Amazons rushed off of it. "I don't know how the next team is going to follow that up but they're gonna try! Our final act will be Team me performing Stairway to Heaven by. Led Zeppelin with Trent!" Chris introduced then quickly scurried off the stage. Noah sighed as he picked up a small electric guitar that Trent gave him and walked onstage with the rest. Because Owen wasn't fast enough to learn the chords he became the drummer keeping the beat of the song as the rest of them carried their guitars and began to start.

Xxx

Trent began plucking the strings that started the melody as the crowd quieted down from the last song. This went on for a few seconds before Trent started to sing the lyrics

_There's a lady who's sure All that glitters is gold. And she's buying a stairway to heaven. And when she gets there she knows, If the stores all are closed With a word she can get what she came for…_

_Oooh Oooh Oooh And she's buying a stairway to heaven….._

And with that Trent sang the verses after that. Noah actually never heard Trent sing with a guitar before (Except for that time in the TDA: Aftermath) Needless to say Noah was impressed when they first rehearsed and even after Noah knew each word Trent was going to sing he felt as if this was the first time hearing this song.

_And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune,  
Then the piper will lead us to reason.  
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long,  
And the forests will echo with laughter. _

_Oooh makes me wonder Oooh makes me wonder. _Trent nodded silently at Duncan who began strumming his own part as Owen still tapped lightly on the drums.

_There's a feeling I get when I look to the west,_

_And my spirit is crying for leaving._

_In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees,_

_And the voices of those who stand looking. _Noah saw that Trent was silently nodding to him which prompted himself to start playing his part. Alejandro didn't need a cue and started to play alongside Noah.

_And it's whispered that soon, if we all call the tune,_

_Then the piper will lead us to reason._

_And a new day will dawn for those who stand long,_

_And the forests will echo with laughter. _Trent nodded to Tyler which who was a little late on the pickup but Noah didn't think anyone would notice.

And from there on out Noah silently played his part on the guitar trying to make sure not to mess up the chord progression. Looking out to the audience for a brief moment he could see the audience was memorized with their performance. He also glanced to the side to see Team Amazon looking at them through the curtain. Looking at them all he glanced at Gwen in particular and a strange adrenaline rush was once again pumped into his lungs. It was the same one he felt when he was fighting her in the arena hours ago.

Which was a stroke of luck considering it was time for them to break out into the fast movement of the song.

_And as we wind on down the road Our shadows taller than our soul. _This was the time where Noah truly felt engrossed in the music. He didn't know why but it's like the song took over him as he began rock out to the song he was playing.

_There walks a lady we all know Who shines white light and wants to show. _Noah hand was strumming so hard that he felt that his fingers were going to fly off.

_How everything still turns to gold. And if you listen very hard._ Owen slammed down on the drums.

_The tune will come to you at last. When all are one and one is all _A brief paused occurred again when Tyler missed a chord but Trent's singing blocked it out oncemore.

_To be a rock and not to roll! _Trent said and now only the guitar solo could do them rightful justice as they sang. Noah for some reason too felt possessed by the music as he strummed along his head rocking out in sync to Owen's drum beats.

_And she's buying a stairway to heaven…_ Trent ended as he strummed the last chord. Noah and everyone else too stopped and looked to the audience. It took them a brief moment to process what happened but then they let loose an uproar of cheers.

"OH MY GOD DUNCAN YOU'RE SO HOT!" One fan girl yelled out to them. Duncan noticing this showed his bicep to the audience with Noah rolling his eyes in return.

"Egotistical much." He mumbled to him. Duncan just smirked back at the bookworm.

"Just given the ladies what they want." Duncan laughed.

"Okay that was our two acts!" Chris came up on stage again waving Noah's team to walk off the stage where they stood by Team Amazon.

"Now if all of you will look under your seats you'll find an electronic device with two of the teams insignia's on the screen." Chris explained to the crowd. "So touch the one who you think did the best number which will be the team who'll win todays challenge!" Chris announced.

"May the best man win." Alejandro said holding out a hand to Heather.

"You mean best girl win." She sneered taking his hand. Alejandro smirked back.

"As you wish."

**Confessional Cam**

**Heather: **Al think he's so smart. Well I know for a fact that my teams gonna win this challenge. I mean look how many fangirls were cheering for Cody out there! *Pauses for a moment* Speaking of Cody I think I almost gained his loyalty…

**Alejandro: **It does not matter to me if we win this challenge or not. If we win then Heather will go and even if I do admire her and it would be more interesting if we competed together head to head more she's a threat and must be disposed of immediately. And as for the possibility that my team will lose then Noah will be the one to go. I have Tyler's vote for sure and Duncan will probably vote for him as well. Owen will just vote for Tyler again. However if for some reason Duncan dosen't vote for Noah and votes for me I can easily best Noah in any tiebreaker situation.

**End Confessional Cams**

"Okay 5 minutes are up and I see that everyone has voted!" Chris said. A scrawny intern dashed toward Chris giving him an envelope. "And here are the results." He said opening up the envelope. "Wow this was a close one! But by a narrow majority Team Me wins!" Chris announced.

"We won!" Owen cheered grabbing Noah into a bare hug. Alejandro turned his head to smirk at Heather.

"I guess it was best _ man_ win this time." He chuckled darkly. Heather just frowned back at him.

"Which means that Team Amazon for the first time ever will be sending home a loser tonight!" Chris announced as well. Noah himself didn't hear what else Chris had to say as he signed off.

"You're crushing me." He chocked still in Owen's arms.

"Oh sorry buddy." Owen said putting him down. Noah just rolled his eyes and followed Chris and the others as they exited the theater.

Xxx

Apparently Trent would be flying with them until they could get back to Canada to drop him off back at the Playa so he was staying with Team Chris in first class.

"Thanks for helping us man." Tyler thanked the guitarist taking another swig of Italian soda.

"It was nothing bro." Trent replied sitting on the seat opposite from Tyler. "Wow they treat you guys really good here, better than back on the playa." Trent said scanning around first class. Owen nodded.

"Yeah and the best parts the food!" Owen said loudly cramming another Italian meatball from his pasta dish down his throat. Noah rolled his eyes.

"Which is always on low supply thanks to this guy." Noah said nudging to Owen. After Noah said that he glanced to the clock and saw it was time to give Gwen some of his dinner. Standing up he grabbed a few Italian pastry's that he thought Gwen would like and tried to walk out the door. Alejandro noticed this.

"Going somewhere?" He asked him. Noah turned around and shrugged.

"Just going to make a confessional." He lied as he exited first class. Alejandro eyes quirked but dismissed it. Whatever Noah was doing it couldn't be a threat to him.

Xxx

"I hate loser class." Courtney grumbled eating some gruel that Chef gave them. Gwen sighed too.

"Yeah, but we couldn't keep winning forever." Gwen reasoned. Courtney rolled her eyes.

"We might've if _someone_ chose a better song." Courtney said directing that remark to Cody. Cody noticed this.

"Excuse me you don't like Queen?" Cody asked. Courtney scoffed.

"Of course I do! But did we really have to make you sing basically the whole entire thing." Courtney replied.

"Hey my Codykins is an excellent singer!" Sierra defended who was sitting next to the geek. "He was in the drama brothers!" Cody cringed as Sierra was defending him.

"Please Sierra you don't need to defend me." Cody said sheepishly. Courtney laughed.

"That's rich! Cody she's been protecting you for this entire season, if she wasn't here you probably wouldn't still be in this competition." That's when Sierra lost it.

"What did you say! My Cody can do anything he sets his mind too!" She said wrapping Cody in a bear hug. "I bet Gwen thinks your wrong too! Right Gwen?" She turned to face the goth. "Gwen?" She asked again but then and everyone else noticed that the goth was gone. "Where did Gwen go?" She asked scratching her head.

"Who cares?" Heather said reading a magazine seated next to Sierra. Courtney narrowed her eyes at Heather but smiled.

_Just you wait Heather, this time you're going for real._

Xxx

"Hey babe." Duncan greeted as he saw Gwen walk into the cargo hold.

"Duncan, what are you doing here?" Gwen asked rather surprised.

"Heard from Noah this is the place where he gives you his food." Duncan shrugged. He quirked his unibrow.

"Besides I haven't seen you in a while…" He said slowly walking towards her. Gwen smirked.

"Yeah I guess you're right. Good thing I came here too because Heather and Sierra have been really creasing me."

"Ah forget about them." He said moving closer to Gwen. "You'll be rid of one of those bitches later tonight anyway." He said. Gwen chuckled.

"I guess you're right." Gwen said leaning in for a kiss. Duncan happily leaned in as well.

"Am I interrupting something?" Gwen and Duncan turned their heads to Noah who was with a plate of pastries. Duncan glared.

"Can't you see where busy here." He growled. Noah smirked.

"Can't you see that I can give less of a crap. I'm just here to give Gwen her food." Noah said walking over to Gwen with Gwen taking the plate. Duncan rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah she has her food now. Now are you going to get out or do I have to make you." Duncan said holding up a fist. Noah shrugged.

"Whatever, just be careful that no one sees you too." Noah said turning his head to walk out the door. Duncan turned his head back to Gwen for a deep kiss which she returned eyes closed. Noah walking out the door suddenly turned his eyes wide.

"WHAT!" Soon Duncan and Gwen broke their kiss to turn their heads.

"That's it I'm gonna kick his-' But then Duncan stopped and saw what was happening. Sierra had walked in the room.

Xxx

"WHA-" Noah clamped her mouth shut. Gwen looked at Sierra and gasped.

"Crap!" Gwen swore. Duncan also looked a little shaken up.

"I'll let my hand off if you promise to be calm okay." Noah pleaded with Sierra who was struggling to get free of Noah's grasp. Sierra nodded her head obliging as Noah took his hand off of her. Sierra panted for a few seconds but then went into full overdrive.

"I knew it! Well I thought that Gwen and Noah had a secret alliance but I never thought that _Duncan_ would cheat with Courtney! And Noah's in on this too!" She yelled to them. Noah nodded.

"Yes now you know too. Are you happy?" Noah said sarcastically.

"Of course not! Boyfriend stealing is wrong!" Sierra yelled again. She suddenly narrowed her eyes at the delinquent.

"First you hurt my Cody kins and now you cheat on Courtney! You're pure _evil!_" Sierra seethed at the delinquent. Duncan rolled his eyes.

"You gonna tell the whole world drama queen?" He retorted.

"Maybe I will!" Sierra decided looking towards the door.

"Duncan you idiot!" Noah yelled as he turned to Sierra. "Sierra look this is none of your business." Noah reasoned.

"None of my business! I'm Sierra, Celebrity Manhunt Reporter and decent human being! It would be wrong for me to not say anything!"

"Sierra please…" Gwen pleaded.

"No!" Sierra decided heading towards the door. That's when Noah knew that this could be the end of him and the chances in this game. Frantically he searched his brain for a solution, anything to change Sierras mind about telling everyone. Suddenly he found something and once again Noah made another desperate gambit.

"Cody!" He suddenly blurted out. This caused Sierra to stop and turn around.

"What about my Codykins?" Sierra asked. It took a moment for Noah to figure out what he was going to say next but then it came to him.

"Sierra, how do you think Cody would react to this if he found out?" He asked. Sierra put her hand to her chin in thought.

"Cody would be mad at Gwen! Right?" She asked. Noah shook his head.

"Sierra he would be _devastated_. As much as you think you know Cody I know him better than you. Of course he'd be angry but after that anger subsided he'd be crushed." He motioned towards Gwen.

"I talked to him last night and he told me that he was going to do everything in his power to win Gwen. Gwen the person that Cody has been trying to get since season 1. Gwen the person that Cody tried to get her on the rebound during TDA. Gwen the person who he's been trying to woo right now. And for him to hear that Gwen rejected him again for another person. That would _destroy_ him."

"So do you really want to be the messenger of the bad news Sierra? Do you really want to break Cody's heart?" Noah finished hoping that his gambit would work. Sierra stared mouth a gape at Noah. She turned to Duncan then to Gwen then back to Noah.

"Codykins… Fine I won't say anything." Sierra gave in. "But Gwen can't vote for me got it!" Sierra demanded. Noah nodded.

"Of course." He answered. Sierra scowled back at him as she reached for the door but then stopped.

"You three are horrible people." She muttered before she slammed the door. Hearing Sierra's footsteps walk away Noah breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was close." He muttured. He suddenly turned to Duncan and Gwen.

"Well I guess it's obvious what we need to do now. Gwen you have to vote for Sierra." Noah instructed that's when Gwen jumped.

"What! But she promised not to tell!" Gwen yelled.

"For now Gwen. I managed to make her calm down for now but I don't suspect that she can keep her mouth shut on this for the long term. She'll be a threat to us down the road."

"Sierra didn't do anything wrong!" Gwen retorted. "I don't want to take an innocent person out of the game!" Noah frowned.

"You're making it sound like we're killing her. Look Sierra was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. I understand that it may feel _wrong_ but what else can we do. And if you have another idea for us to get out of this without everyone knowing that you and Duncan are together then is my guest." Noah explained. Gwen thought about it for a moment but couldn't think of anything. Frantically she turned to Duncan.

"Duncan help me out here!" Gwen said. Duncan shrugged.

"I hate to admit it but I think the twerps right, unless…" He trailed off. "We go public about this." Duncan finished. Gwen shook her head.

"Duncan I'm not ready, I told you that!" Gwen said.

"Gwen just trust me on this, it'll be okay. Then we wouldn't have to do what he says anymore and Sierra dosen't has to get kicked off." Duncan explained. Gwen considered it for a brief moment. She did like Duncan but if they did that then she feared that they would end up like her and Trent…

"I'm sorry Duncan I can't not yet anyway." She decided. Duncan frowned.

"You're impossible." Duncan said walking away from her to the door he opened it walked out and slammed it. Now only Gwen and Noah were in the cargo hold. Gwen frowned at the door. She hated Sierra for finding out. She hated Noah for forcing her to vote for her. She hated Duncan for not agreeing with her but most of all she hated herself.

She hated that eventually this will all come out when the game ends. She hated that Cody would eventually find out. She hated that she didn't stop Duncan for kissing her or for her not to tell Duncan to break up with Courtney first before they did. She hated everything.

"I'll do it." Gwen muttered darkly to Noah. Noah sighed.

"I'm glad you see it my way."

"Whatever." She replied and then she left walked out of the room. This left Noah to himself again. Now Gwen hated him again. And still Noah wondered why he cared so much about her feelings towards him. Noah felt sick again. That same sick feeling when he talked to Cody the night before. But now there was something else attached to it. Something that he couldn't explain. Something about Gwen… Shaking his head he made his way to first class again.

Xxx

**ATTENTION TEAM AMAZON REPORT TO THE ELIMINATION CREMONY! TRENT YOU'RE WELCOME TO WATCH IF YOU LIKE!**

Noah heard Chris over the intercom speak. Suddenly he saw Duncan jogging towards him.

"Where are you going?" Noah asked. Duncan shook his head.

"Where do you think?" He replied jogging past him. Noah knowing that Duncan was going to watch the elimination ceremony sped off with him.

Xxx

"Okay Team Amazon welcome to your first real elimination!" Chris announced as Team Amazon sat on the bleachers. Noah and Duncan were hiding behind one of the potted plants to watch. Noah saw that Trent was standing near Chris.

"Okay you guys just go to the john to cast your vote." Chris announced. "Cody you're up!"

Xxx

"Now that all the votes are tallied." Chris said holding up the pass ports in his hand. "First vote goes to Heather!" Chris announced. Courtney smirked at Heather with her glaring back. "Second vote goes too Gwen!" Chris said also.

"Sierra…" Duncan said behind gritted teeth.

"Third vote goes too Sierra!" Chris announced. Sierra immediately glared at Gwen suspecting something.

"Fourth vote goes too Sierra again!" Chris said loudly. "So it's 1 vote for Heather, one vote for Gwen and two for Sierra. And now the person who will take the drop of shame is….

…

…

…

…

…

….

…

…

…

…

SIERRA! Time for you to go!" Chris happily stated.

"What!" Sierra jumped up darting eyes at everyone. She locked eyes with Gwen.

"You liar!" She hollered at her.

"Yes, yes it's always a shock." Chris said giving Sierra her parachute and pushing her towards the door. Cody however eyes were wide as plates.

"YES I'M FREE!" He jumped up in the air. "Yes, yes, yes, yes!" He cheered.

"Cody!" Sierra cried. "You have to listen to me! Whatever you do don't trust  
Gwen! She k-

"Out you go!" Chris said shoving Sierra off the plane.

"COODDDYYY!" The fangirl screeched as she plummeted to the Italian earth below. However Cody didn't hear Sierra fore he was still jumping up for joy.

"This is awesome! Finally Sierra's gone!" He shouted.

"Will you give it a rest!" Courtney finally snapped. Cody stopped jumping up and down.

**Confessional Cam**

**Heather: **I thought I was going! Not that I'm complaining mind you. I was tempted to vote for either Gwen or Courtney but I knew my best bet was to vote for Sierra because I knew that Cody would vote for her and it worked! Now all I have to do is tell Cody I helped him and I'll gain his loyalty.

**Cody:** *Jumping up and down* I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'm free, I'M FREE!

**Courtney:** What happened! I thought Heather was going to go for sure. I thought I had both Gwen and Sierra voting for her? Okay I know that Cody voted for Sierra and Heather to probably because she thought that would be her best chance… But who voted for Gwen and Sierra! Maybe Sierra voted for Gwen and Gwen voted for Sierra… I gotta get to the bottom of that.

**Gwen: ***Prepares to speak but sighs and walks out of the confessional*

**Noah:** That was close, too close. Luckily I knew that it would at least end in a tiebreaker because why wouldn't Sierra vote for Gwen? I assume that either Heather or Courtney voted for Sierra then to make the numbers right but that dosen't matter now. I've thought about it and after how much Duncan wanted to become public I don't how much hand I can still have on him in the future. I hate to say it but next challenge we have to lose so I can send Alejandro home because I have no idea how long Duncan's going to keep this up with me.

_The camera cuts to Chris on the cockpit._

"Oooh spicy! Noah wants Al gone really badly don't he? And how long will the three of them keep Gwuncan under wraps? All this and more on the next action packed episode of Total Drama World Tour!"

**A/N- Yep Sierra's gone! Next chapter I'm debating if I want them to go to Area 51 or some different place entirely so the next chapter may take a bit longer to come out then this one. Heck, this one did kind of take long to come out now that I think about it…**

**Anyway I also added an elimination order and a section where you can see who voted for who. See you guys next time!**

**OOE-(Every canonical elimination that was prior to I See London), Sierra**

**Voting Results**

**Courtney- Heather**

**Gwen- Sierra**

**Sierra- Gwen**

**Cody- Sierra**

**Heather- Sierra**

**Voted out: Sierra.**


	5. A Midnight Revelation

**Authors Notes: Another chapter so soon! Well don't get too excited because this isn't a challenge chapter however it does introduce a very important plot point even though this chapter dosen't even features Noah. Consider it as an appetizer for the next challenge chapter to come. And by popular demand I've decided the next challenge will be in Las Vegas! I want to thank Admiral B because he suggested it.**

Trent awoke with the sound of his watch beeping. Scared that it would wake everyone else in 1st class up he quickly silenced it and lowered the brightness to check the time.

1:00 AM Europe time. However with the constantly changing timezones it was hard to guess what time it was in the time zone they were in now. However he had promised someone that he would talk to them to give them information. Groggily he stood up from the plush yellow seat that he slept in that he hated departing from. He felt his left pocket for his phone which relived him that he had. Trent now quietly stepped out of loser class to make sure that no one was disturbed by him.

Xxx

Owen awoke like he did every time that he did. With his stomach growling. Opening his eyes he frowned realizing it wasn't time to wake up yet do to the darkness. However Owen still wanted to eat no matter what the time of day was and decided that he would sneak off to the cargo hold to steal a bag of chips to munch on for the night. He knew that he could easily summon one of the interns that catered to them but Owen decided against it. He didn't want to wake anyone up. So the gentle giant slowly walked out of the room to the cargo hold. Not realizing that it would change his overall outlook on the game forever.

Xxx

Trent carefully went into the cargo hold, and being doubly careful to do so with great quietness. Fearing that he would wake someone up if he turned on the light he used his phone for the light which to see. Walking into the center of the room he sat down and put in the combo of numbers to open his phone (It was 9999) Clicking his _skype_ app he touched the symbol of the person he wanted to call and soon the calling ringtone started. He promised the person that he would call them after filming and while this wasn't an ideal time to keep that promise Trent wanted to do it none the less. Soon the person picked up and Trent saw a red haired boy. He was lanky and had glasses.

"Hi Harold." Trent greeted one of his musical partners.

"Hey man." Harold answered. "How was helping out in the challenge?"

Trent shrugged. "Not really that big of a deal really. Just taught Noah a few chords while Alejandro taught Tyler." He smiled before he added. "How are things back at the Playa." Harold shrugged.

"Normal I guess, Geoff and Bridgette did have another fight though." He informed.

"Oh, that's too bad." Trent sighed. Shortly after the second aftermath Bridgette caught Geoff looking at another girl again causing their relationship to once again spiral out of control. Trent predicted by the end of the season they'll break up again.

"So, if you don't mind me asking bu-' Harold coughs awkwardly mid sentence. "How was _Noah_ thing for you?" He asked. Trent sighed. He knew this was going to come up. How could it not have? He began to tell his story to Harold.

Xxx

Owen coughed quietly as he approached the door to the cargo hold. There was another door to the cargo hold on the plane but Owen knew this one led to the food so he chose this one. He opened the door quietly and smiled as he saw several bags of ruffles scattered across the floor. Grinning that he'll satisfy his appetite Owen walked into the room and grabbed one of the bags. Ripping it open he scarfed down a couple of chips before he heard voices from the other side of the area. Owen stopped eating fearing it might be Chef to yell at him for breaking into the place he kept his food to listen.

_Is that Trent?_

Owen thought scratching his head. Trying to see if his assumption was correct he carefully tip toed to the other side of the room and dashing behind a barrel of sardines to where the noise was. Peering around it he was correct and saw that Trent was talking. Looking closer he could see he was talking to his phone.

"Yeah it was a little weird to say the least." Owen heard Trent speak. "I just don't like how he was blackmailing Gwen to do stuff she dosen't want to do Harold."

_Harold_, _he must be talking to him. _

Owen realized. A strong part of him wanted to get out of his hiding place to greet Trent and Harold (Partly because he hadn't hung out with them a lot lately due to Harold's early elimination and Trent not participating in World Tour.) But he felt that Trent was talking to Harold about something rather personal and he didn't want to put them in an awkward situation.

"I agree that it was rather uncool for Noah to do that." Harold agreed. "But he's doing it with good intentions."

Owen scratched his head in thought.

_Why were they talking about Noah. Noah didn't do anything to Gwen._

Owen tried to think of anything that he saw Noah do that was wrong to Gwen and could think of nothing. Trent looked like he disagreed from Harold statement.

"I know he's doing it because he wants Alejandro gone and all but for him do that to Gwen." Trent pauses to shake his head. "Gwen's been through that before with Justin, she doesn't need any more of this." He finished. Harold shrugged.

_Al? What was Noah planning with Gwen about Al?_

Owen sighed.

_Why can't Al and Noah just get along?_

"I admit that Justin was rather villainous in doing that last season, but Noah and Justin are two very different individuals." Harold pointed out. "And Noah doesn't have many other options into getting rid of Alejandro. Plus he Al has-"

"Tyler and Owen, I know." Trent finished. He sighs deeply. "Wow, after thinking about this again it just now hitting me. Gwen and Duncan are dating, and Noah is blackmailing them. Just saying it out loud, wow…" He mumbled to himself.

"_WHAT!"_ Trent swung his head around to see Owen who was now standing up and not in his hiding place any longer. He was standing up and had his hand's in the air. "ALEXANDER THE INSANELY GREAT NOAH DID WHAT NOW!" The big teen bellowed yet again. Harold seeing this glared at Trent from his phone.

"Gosh, Trent! I thought you looked to see if anyone was following you!" Harold said.

"I did! I mean I thought I did?" Trent paused to scratch his head but then turned to Owen. "Owen you gotta be quiet okay or you're going to wake everyone up."

"Wait is this all true though!" Owen yelled to the both of them again grabbing his head with his hands. Trent solemnly nodded his head as well as Harold. Owen's eyes were wide now.

"Gwen and Duncan are _dating?_" He said. Looking back on it now he did know that Duncan liked Gwen from their conversation yesterday. But how could Noah do something so mean!

"And Noah is blackmailing them?" He asked again. Trent nodded his head.

"Yeah. Don't worry I don't like it either." He tried to reassure but Harold rolled his eyes. Owen was still dumbfounded at this. He didn't care about Gwen or Duncan dating (He didn't even realize yet that Duncan didn't break up with Courtney before they kissed) but how could his friend Noah, his best friend in the whole world, do something so cruel.

"I can't believe that Noah…" Owen trailed off. "Why is Noah doing this?" He asked again.

"Noah thought if he had Duncan's vote it would be enough to get rid of Alejandro." Trent explained. Owen wasn't that surprised really. For some reason Noah hated Al and he had no idea why.

"How could Noah be so mean to Al?" He asked again in confusion. However this was the last straw for a certain individual who hated Alejandro almost as much as Noah.

"Gosh Owen, Noah isn't doing anything evil!" Harold yelled through the phone to him prompting the large teen to move towards him.

"What?" He asked in confusion. Harold sighed deeply.

"Alejandro is the bad guy! He got rid of DJ, Bridgette, LeShawna and so many other people just to get ahead. Noah's just the only person who was smart enough to realize this and wants to do something about it!" Harold berated. Owen was shocked at how Harold was acting and it seemed that his long winded speech was genuine. However he still couldn't believe that Alejandro was the bad guy.

Alejandro was the only one that saved him in the Amazon where even his best friend Noah and girlfriend Izzy abandoned him. How couldn't he trust him? Harold saw this and growled again.

"I'm sorry Owen that I got mean back there but you got to believe me." Harold said. Suddenly an idea popped into his head.

"Trent you have the Youtube video I sent you a while back that had all of Alejandro's confessionals edited together right?" Harold asked. Trent nodded turning back to his phone.

"You want me to show it to him?" He asked. Harold nodded.

"If Owen see's what Alejandro is doing then it will convince him." The red haired nerd concluded.

"Okay just let me get it up…" Trent mumbled fumbling for the video app on his phone. Scanning through the multitude of videos on his device he found the right one and motioned Owen to come closer so he could see it. When Owen was in close range to see it Trent pressed the play button and suddenly Owen realized how wrong he was about Al.

Xxx

_Confessional Cams_

_Alejandro: Watch out Total Drama nerds, the new guy is going all the way to the top_

_Alejandro: *Curses in rapid Spanish*_

_Alejandro: Perhaps it would've been a nice thing to show the girl's team which way to go, but you've seen my team. We need all the help we can get._

_Alejandro: Losing Sierra to Heather, hm tragic. But I still have the upper hand. The president of Cody's fanclub dosen't know anything about me, no one does. And I intend to keep it that way because compared to me, Heather's a saint._

_Alejandro: Bridgette was expendable, they all are. Some will prove they can be more challenging than others… But one by one they'll all go down!_

_XXx_

Owen watched even more confessionals down to a tee but every time he listened to another he felt like someone was punching him in his gut. Alejandro had lied to him. Al didn't care about him. He just pretended to like Owen to get farther in the game. And Noah was the only one who noticed it! Bridgette, DJ, LeShawna all of them! He took down all of them! Owen just thought Noah was exaggerating by his constant warnings but he was right.

"Noah was right." He kept repeating after the video clips stopped. "Noah was right, Al is bad news."

"Now you see." Harold said through the phone. "I know that Gwen doesn't deserve this Owen but he's doing this with good intentions." Harold reasoned still. "So you have to keep what you saw here a secret. Everything about Noah blackmailing Gwen and Duncan and everything you found out about Alejandro."

"But I can't keep it a secret!" Owen sprang up again. "What if Al tries to be my friend again and I get confused and let it slip or something!" He cried out.

"Al has no idea you know about anything." Harold reasoned but Owen shook his head.

"Still I'm bad with keeping secrets; remember what happened the first season about the guy's alliance. I spilled everything to Gwen!" He clutched his forehead again. "This is terrible! I'm going to screw everything up and ruin what Noah is trying to do. It's all going to be my fault." Owen covered his face and Trent could see tears flow down it. "No wonder Noah hates me…" He sobbed quietly. Trent put his hand on the party guys shoulder and said.

"Owen you're overreacting. There is no way you're going to spill I promise." He tried to help. Owen still not believing Trent rubbed the tears from his eyes and started to think.

There was no way he could keep a secret like this for long. He'll probably forget, or goof up, or let someone mean like Alejandro or Courtney bully him into telling. It was all hopeless it seemed in his mind. But then something clicked inside his head and in Owen's state of being he reasoned it as fact.

"I know what I have to do." He said quietly. Harold quirked his eyebrow.

"Owen?" He asked. Owen gulped.

"Thanks guys for helping me. But there is no way I can keep this a secret, I'll just screw everything up again. _Like I always do._ So next challenge, I'm going to try to make my team lose and then vote myself off." Owen told the two his plan. Harold and Trent both jumped hearing this.

"Owen, you don't need to do that." Trent said quickly. "You're going to lose a million bucks over it."

"I know that and it's going to be sad to miss out on winning, but I don't want to risk Al knowing about this! I'll be okay." Owen assured. "I'm also going to try to tell Tyler the truth about Al too, not the part about the blackmail but enough to convince him that he's not nice." Trent and Harold were still unsure.

"Owen you can just vote for Alejandro with Noah and Duncan next. Then he'll be gone and you don't have to vote yourself off." Harold suggested. "You don't have to sacrifice yourself." Owen hearing this theory took a moment to contemplate it. Alejandro would have enough votes against him to leave and without him it would be very easy for Noah to keep this a secret. But he still didn't trust himself to keep a secret for that long even if Alejandro went. If he still accidentally revealed it then someone mean like Courtney or Heather could go and use that against Noah. And Owen wasn't going to let that chance happen.

"I could reveal it later though, and I don't want to ruin everything again." Owen replied shaking a bit. Harold furrowed his brow.

"Noah's prime objective is to get rid of Alejandro it's also what everyone wants. If you want to vote yourself off that's fine but we should focus on getting rid of that _idiot_ first." Harold argued. Owen shook his head.

"I'm sorry Harold, I can't trust myself." Owen looked away for a moment. "For so long I've been blind about Al and Noah took the costs for that. All season Noah's been pretty nice to me and all I've done was treating him second fiddle to Al." He sniffles a bit. "And I know in my heart that I'll get tricked pretty soon and tell everyone. _I always get tricked._ I don't deserve to be in the game anymore." Owen finished. Harold pondered what Owen said for a long while and while he didn't exactly agree with him he knew where the large teen was coming from.

Ever since the beginning of Total Drama Action Harold always harbored a guilt about him unfairly booting Courtney by changing the votes. And then he got a chance to be in TDA where Courtney didn't get that chance. Through the beginning of season 2 Harold didn't know what to do with that guilt and even thought of voting himself off on the grounds that he didn't deserve to be there on account on what he did on island. It only took Courtney arranging LeShawna's elimination for him to not be guilty anymore and see that what Courtney did was just as bad as he did. Sighing he slowly nodded to Owen.

"Okay, go for it Owen." He said softly. Trent seeing this nodded as well prompting Owen to smile.

"Before I'll go I'll make sure to warn Tyler about Al." Owen nodded. He proceeded to stand up and they said their goodbyes before Owen spoke: "Harold." He said.

"Yeah Owen?" He asked. Owen smiled.

"Tell Izzy that big O's coming home."

Harold smiled. "Will do." He said and soon Trent closed the skype app. Owen and Trent exchanged goodbyes and made way back to first class.

**A/N- Hopefully this dosen't come off a filler but this is very important for Owen's character development. Anyway I hope you all have a good day!**

**-ewisko8**


	6. Happens in Vegas Part 1

**Authors Notes: Woohoo another chapter of Noah's Gambit! Sorry for taking so long for this to come out but hopefully this makes up for it. Because two very important things are going to happen this chapter! One of those will be the revelation of if this story is going to be Gwoah or Gwuncan!**

Because of Trent still on the plane, the Jumbo Jet needed to stop at Canada to drop him off meaning that it took a little more time to get to the next destination. Noah wasn't worried about this however, because it gave him more time to accurately deduce his next strategy in the game as well as to analyze what happened so far.

His new three person alliance had just eliminated its first contestant. Sadly, that contestant wasn't Alejandro. It was Sierra whom as much as she annoyed Noah at her constantly trying to get near Cody he was still frustrated at Sierra's departure. Noah was banking on last elimination Heather or Alejandro would get the boot if each respective team lost. Of course Noah wanted Alejandro gone as soon as possible but he also knew that Heather was going to be a threat after the merge.

He also knew Heather was crafty, and Noah had a slight fear that she might suspect something was going on with him, Gwen and Duncan. Heather was not stupid.

Noah shook his head at an attempt to free his worry from his mind trying not to focus on the Heather problem. It was Alejandro that he'd have to worry about. Because of him talking to Gwen and Duncan the night prior when Sierra burst in on them Noah had no idea he could keep this gambit going. It seemed like Gwen was getting on Duncan's last nerve on trying to keep their new relationship a secret. And Noah theorized that with Duncan's previous track record with Courtney that he would be less obliging to keep a girl that wasn't totally on his side.

Meaning that Duncan could back away from the deal at any time, this challenge or the next no matter how strategic it would be to get a million dollars. This meant for Noah that Alejandro had to go ASAP. So now he had to think of a way to sabotage his team for elimination and do it in such a way that his other team mates would consider him as a liability and vote him off.

Which led the bookworm to another question: Should he try to tell Duncan to help him with the sabotage? Of course he knew that Duncan's immediate reaction would him be yelling back at Noah's face and refusing his offer. And Duncan wasn't an easy man to persuade, even if it was for the good of the alliance.

The only way that Noah thought that he could convince the delinquent was to relate the problem to Gwen's chances in the game and maybe guilt trip him into doing it for Gwen's sake. He would try to convince him that Alejandro could eliminate Gwen come merge if they didn't eliminate him now. Noah glanced at Duncan for a brief moment. If Duncan would still put up with Gwen for another challenge at least…

Gwen

For some reason Noah couldn't get a read on that girl. The girl that with Duncan gave Noah a chance to redeem himself. The girl that he could never tell if she hated him or not. Noah sighed again, not knowing why he came back to that question so much. Noah and Gwen barely talked at all before all of this save for the dodge ball challenge in TDI. So why did Noah care so much of what the Goth thought of him?

Noah shook the thought out of his mind not wanting to think about his questionable feelings any longer.

**LANDING IN CANADA IN 5 MINUTES! TRENT GETS YOUR STUFF TOGETHER!**

Chris loudly blared out of the loud speaker. Noah saw that Trent got up of his chair.

"Bye Trent, can you say hi to Lindsay for me?" Tyler asked as Trent picked up his suit case. Trent nodded.

"Will do man." He replied. Trent's eyes then glanced towards Owen for a moment. For that brief moment Noah saw something. Not a thing in physical terms but Trent gave Owen a certain look. Owen smiled as he stood up.

"Bye dude." Owen waved from his seat. Noah gave a hand wave as well still thinking about the guitar teen. Noah swore that he noticed something between Trent and Owen. Was it just his imagination?

Noah threw that thought away as he picked up his copy of _The Hobbit_. For now he just wanted to read and relax. He'll decide on what to do with Duncan later.

Xxx

Team Amazon as well as Team Chris decided that it would be well worth their time to make a few confessionals before their next challenge. Not only to try to figure out each players next move but for some to relive some stress that they had for quite some time.

Team Amazon however instead of trying to relax in Economy each member went to the confessional to try to plan their next moves as well as to vent on a few issues.

**Confessional Cams**

**Cody:** Yes, yes, yes Sierra is gone! *He pauses to tap his chin* I just realized that with her here I didn't have a lot of time to think of strategy,,, *He waves his hand* Ah I shouldn't worry about it! Besides now with Sierra gone, I can finally hang with Noah, Gwen, Tyler, Owen… Heck just about anyone now without her breathing down my neck!

**Heather:** I'd be lying if I still said I wasn't a little bit nervous about my position right now. Next elimination Courtney and Gwen are going to vote for me for sure. So I only have one option: Cody.

Because of Gwen and Courtney's guarantee vote against me it seems like Cody is the only person I can turn to now. I can't believe just tell him upfront I want an alliance though because that'll probably get the twerp to go over to Courtney's side but I can tell him that I was one of the ones that voted for Sierra with him. *Shakes her head* Then maybe that'll give him enough incentive to not vote for me. Cody seems like the only potential ally that I have and even him won't save me from elimination entirely from Gwen and Courtney if we do lose!

**Courtney:** *Holds a checklist in hand* Finally everything is going my way for once! I have a dependable ally, probably am safe until the merger and Duncan's back! *Looks slightly surprised as what she said* I mean that Duncan will be a good ally to me! Along with Gwen, who I'm in with a solid partnership now because of our pact to get rid of Heather. As for other ally's I'm sure Cody would stay loyal to Gwen which in turn I'll gain his as well. So between Duncan, Gwen, Cody (1) and myself I feel like I'm completely safe! The only major threats will be from Alejandro and Noah. Alejandro I heard was a master manipulator from Heather's usual rants about him and Noah I'm probably sure has Owen's vote in his pocket meaning he essentially has two votes…

But other than that I'm in the clear!

**Alejandro:** *Rubs his chin in thought* something fishy is going on here, but for some reason I can't place exactly what it is. *Shakes his head* No matter, I still have to eliminate the greatest threat that is to me right now: Noah. For some reason that bookworm saw threw my charade and if I allow him to still be on this plane any longer I run the risk of him exposing me to Owen and Tyler of my deeds!

**Owen:** See ya home soon Izzy…

**Gwen:** *Sighs* I can't believe it, I took out Sierra (She cringes) Ugh I feel like Heather…

**End Confessionals**

As Gwen opened the door she looked side to side to see if anyone was theirs. Seeing that no one was she gingerly closed the door. She turned her head to the side slightly hearing someone's footsteps and turned her head fully to see it was Trent with his luggage, no doubt ready to leave the plane. Trent seeing Gwen as well offered a small hand wave and said:

"Hey Gwen, can I talk to you for a minute?" Gwen was unsure but smiled.

"Sure Trent." She replied. "What do you want to talk about?" She asked hoping that the conversation wouldn't be filled with frequent awkward pauses. Trent scratched the back of his head as he spoke.

"I just wanted you to have a heads up on something." He said. Gwen's eyebrows raised. What could Trent be talking about?

"Heads up about what?" She responded. Trent gulped before he spoke.

"Owen knows." He said softly. Gwen gasped. Owen? How does Owen know about this! "In the middle of the night I went to the cargo hold to talk to Harold through Skype. I don't know how but Owen for some reason went to the cargo hold as well in such a way that we didn't notice him. And then I-' he paused. "Talked about the thing and then well…" He stopped. Gwen couldn't say a word after Trent's confession except try to process what happened.

Owen knew.

"He promised not to tell anyone!" Trent said quickly. "I'm really sorry Gwen." Gwen just nodded her head in agreement.

"Tha- Thanks Trent for telling me." Gwen thanked him shanking. Trent nodded his head.

"Hey if I were in the situation I think you'd do the same for me." He replied. Gwen nodded her head. Suddenly Trent scratched the back of his head again.

"There is another thing that happened though that I should tell you." He said softly.

"What is it?" Gwen replied. After the 'Owen reveal' she had no idea what would come next out of the guitarist mouth. He sighed for a long time.

"Owen he- he. Damn the guy cares so much about you and Noah." He mumbled quietly. Gwen's eyes turned wide. Trent never cursed aside for a rare 'Crap' here and there. "He's convinced that he can't keep the thing a secret or he thinks that Al or someone just going to trick him into telling. Harold and I tried to convince him otherwise but the guys determined that he's going to screw up."

"So last night Owen told us that he was going to sabotage his team for the next challenge and at elimination he's going to vote himself off." Trent ended. After Trent ended his words Gwen felt as if she was punched in the gut.

Owen, the nicest guy that she ever met, was giving up a million dollars for her and Duncan's safety.

Because of her, Noah and Duncan another innocent player was going to get screwed over because of it.

"I can't believe it." She said. Trent shook his head.

"Neither can I."

**TRENT GET UP HERE THE PLANE WILL BE LANDING SOON!** Chris blared over the loud speakers.

He said his gaze locked with Gwen's again. "The planes going to be landing soon so I have to make this quick. Whatever happens Gwen, I'm going to still be rooting for you to win till the very end. And I want you to know that I'm happy for you and Duncan." Before Gwen could respond she could see Trent dash in front of her to the cockpit with Chef and Chris.

Xxx

It had been exactly 4 hours and 15 minutes since they dropped off Trent in Toronto and the plane had once again taken up flight to wherever Chris had decided to send the contestants this time. Many contestants had come up with different theories of where they would go… Gwen and Courtney theorized that they might be heading somewhere in East Asia while Alejandro thought that they would be heading to Australia of all places (2) Tyler thought they would go to another place in Europe which everyone did not believe considering they had already visited a country in Europe twice in a row.

Soon however the host made the announcement of where they were all going to land.

**Attention passengers! Hope you have lady luck on your side because we'll be landing in Las Vegas in 5 minutes!**

And as quick as the host got on the speaker he got off it. Noah glanced up from The Hobbit and looked to his left to see Owen, drumming his fingers nervously on the armrest. Noah quirked his eyebrow, confused at why Owen was acting so nervous.

"Owen are you okay?" Noah faced his friend and asked. Owen quickly swung his head around to Noah and coughed nervously.

"Wha- What did you say buddy?" He asked chuckling nervously.

"Are you okay?" Noah said again, showing irritation that he had to repeat himself. Owen chuckled again nervously and scratched the back of his neck.

"Oh I'm fine buddy! I didn't go anywhere last night!" The big oaf chuckled.

_Last Night?_ Noah thought. What was he talking about?

"That's funny, I didn't ask anything about _last night._" Noah said narrowing his eyes making Owen gulp. "Look Owen, you're a terrible liar. So are you going to tell me what's going on with you or not?" Noah asked. Owen gulped again nervously and twiddled his thumbs. His eyes glanced up to see Alejandro talking to Tyler in the chair way behind him and then in front to see that Duncan was carving something in one of the walls.

"Well you se-

Suddenly Owen was saved by the plane lurching forward suddenly which made Noah fling off the seat into the back of the chair in front of him.

"Argh!" Noah said clutching his head in great pain. Owen worried of his friends safety offered a hand to help with Noah taking the hand.

"Where did Chef learn to-"Suddenly the plane lurched forward again it seemed and teetered a little in air throwing Noah off balance causing him to fall on his rear.

"What's happening?" Tyler said looking nervous.

"I don't know bu- AAAAAHHH!" Noah screamed as he felt his whole body go weightless. Looking around he could see Tyler and Owen screaming too and that's when Noah gulped at the realization of what was happening. The plane was falling. 

Xxx

"WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!" Owen screeched loudly again covering his eyes as they fell.

"LINDSAY IF YOU'RE LISTENING TO THIS I LOVE YOU!" Tyler hollered as well hoping that one of the cameras would pick up his voice. Noah was just about to make a similar shout until the jumbo jet turned sharply right causing his teammates to be flung against the wall in First Class. Thankfully the plane seemed to be gaining some altitude again but about every 5 seconds Noah could still it lurch downwards.

"Is Chef drunk or something!" Duncan hollered in anger as the plane now turned sharply left causing them to fall to the other wall.

"Probably!" Alejandro answered back as he got slammed into a window. Noah was about to offer a similar quip but was interrupted as a loudspeakers blared again.

**Damn it Chef try to get a hold of him! What do you think I'm trying to do? *Snarl* Fuckin Ezekiel! **

And just like that it was off.

"Zeke's still on the plane!?" Tyler shouted his question as the plane lurched forward again causing all of them to fall to the ground.

"What! But wasn't he thrown out again in London?!" Owen hollered.

"Apparently not!" Noah shouted trying to think straight. What did he know now? He theorized that feral Zeke, the same Ezekiel that Cody was helping, was now attacking Chef and Chris in the cockpit. This explained why the plane was lurching!

**Chris gets me the tranquilizer! Got it just hold him down! I am so put it in him! *Snarl* Shit he got away! Got him now! Give it to him!**

Suddenly Noah felt the plane rise in altitude as he sat on the floor with the others sitting on it too.

**ATTENTION COMPETITORS! APPARENTLY ZEKE WAS HERE AND FELL OUT OF ONE OF THE AIRVENTS ABOVE US! CHEF AND I PUT SOME TRANQUILIZERS IN HIM BUT WE'RE GOING TO HAVE TO TRY TO LAND RIGHT NOW TO GET HIM OFF! LUCKILY WE'RE OVER LAS VEGAS NOW! **

Noah panted as he heard the announcement and clutched his head. His competitors did the same as they descended to Vegas.

Xxx

Apparently Chris lied and didn't actually fly them directly to Las Vegas but an airport that took 12 miles to get there by car. Noah didn't really mind it so much however, because it gave the contestants all some down time before the challenge even started. After they got off the airplane Chris just ordered them to stay in the lobby while Chris and Chef took Ezekiel to the airports medical center to ultimately figure out what to do with the homeschooled kid. So now Noah was just sitting next to Owen in the large airport, twiddling his thumbs until the host and Chef returned.

Looking up he saw that Gwen and Courtney were sitting next to each other talking to each other about something that Noah couldn't fully hear. He did however pick up a few 'Vote offs' and 'Heather' so he assumed the two were discussing how they were going to send the heave ho to the queen bee once and for all.

Noah shook his head for a moment. _Courtney._ Noah found it quite strange that Gwen was still being friendly to Courtney after the whole 'kissing' incident. And once more the bookworm was afraid that when this whole blackmail-kissing scandal was eventually brought to light Courtney was going to be one of their greatest adversaries alongside Alejandro. So why was Gwen still making plans with her?

"Okay here's the deal." Chris said as he walked back with Chef breaking Noah's train of thought. "Apparently the doctors are trying this new mental thing on Zeke so he could stop being all feral, but he's going to be needed to be transported to some hospital down in Vegas so Chef can keep an eye on him while I host the challenge." Chris stops mid-sentence to pinch his forehead. "Also I'm getting a lot of crap from Zeke's parents about how I was 'Treating Ezekiel' but truthfully I had no idea the guy was still on the plane…" He turned his attention towards Cody.

"I might've known if a certain someone told me however, Cody!" He said to the tech geek. Noah as well as everyone else their turned their eyes to Cody to see what the tech geek would say next. Cody gulped.

"Chris I-

"No don't 'Chris' me! I reviewed the footage; you were helping Zeke stay on the plane!" He said pointing his finger at the tech geek.

"Wait hold up, what did Cody do?" Tyler said scratching his head in confusion. Chris rolled his eyes.

"Apparently Cody was sneaking Zeke some of his meals every day, as well as helping him hide out in the cargo hold!" Chris yelled again. "Maybe if he told me or Chef we could've dropped Zeke off in Italy or something so I could help him but _nooooo…." _Chris said. "He ha-

"Will you give it a rest?!" Gwen suddenly shouted. All the competitors froze at the Goths sudden outburst as she stood up out of her seat and walked towards Chris. "Don't you pretend to be the good guy in all of this and try to blame Cody! Besides when did you ever care about the other contestants anyway! You just care because Zeke's parents are probably going to sue you because you were to heartless to actually find him in the damn cargo hold!"

"You're probably just angry at Cody because if he told you before say at Italy you could've taken Ezekiel off the plane and gotten him some help in Rome and plead ignorant that you didn't know anything! But now because of him in the cockpit on camera his parents know that you're just an ass hole!"

"Besides, shouldn't of one of your cameras that you have in the cargo hold detected Ezekiel!" Gwen ended her tirade. Chris just froze there not knowing how to respond to Gwen's sudden rant. Noah smirked at Gwen's sudden outburst. Finally a person gave that ass hole what for, Noah didn't even know that the Goth had it in her.

"Yeah, well…." Chris started to say. "Look, to be honest I knew about Zeke and just wanted him to still be on the plane to try to make a subplot out of it." He muttered.

"You what!" Courtney yelled.

"You heard me." He said softly. "Look I'm sorry, but now I just got a call from the network that the producers of the show are in hot water and we needed someone to blame for this. So I chose Cody." He rubbed the back of his head.

"Maybe they should blame you!" Duncan called out. Chris cringed.

"Yeah, yeah I knew someone would say that." He scratches the back of his head. "Look, the limos going to come in 5 minutes. We'll drop Chef and Zeke at the hospital first and then I'll take you guys to the challenge location. And I'll tell you what, to show you how sorry I am I'll…" He tapped his chin to think of something.

"Make this challenge a reward?" Tyler suggested.

"Skip today's challenge entirely?" Courtney asked.

"Give Ezekiel a spot back in the game." Noah whispered. At Noah's suggestion Chris's eyes grew wide.

"Wait Noah, what did you say?" He asked. Noah was surprised that Chris wanted to hear his suggestion again.

"If you're really concerned in getting in trouble for keeping Ezekiel in the cargo hold then give him a spot back in the game. It's what he always wanted and plus I'm sure it would convince his parents to drop the charges. No one needs to be blamed and everyone wins." Noah ended his suggestion. Chris took a moment to think at this.

He really disliked Ezekiel and the thought of him being back in the game gave him the chills but he did have to agree with Noah that it might get him off the hook. But he did hate the fact that he was going to have heard more 'Yo' and 'Homeys' again from the homeschooled kid. But maybe if he put him back on… Yes!

"Noah that's actually a really good idea and one that I'm going to take!" Chris said snapping his fingers. Cody and Tyler cheered at the news liking that there friend was coming in the game once again. Gwen smiled but didn't look too enthused while Courtney and Heather just frowned at the fact that the sexist was returning. Alejandro shrugged with Noah shrugging as well and Owen was still looking quite nervous.

"Wait, what team is he going to be on?" Heather asked. That's when Chris brought back his host grin back.

"Why, Team Victory of course!" He said enthusiastically. A lot of people scratched their heads at this, one being Cody who asked: "Chris, there isn't really a Team Victory anymore." Cody said. Chris grinned.

"Well when Ezekiel rejoins he's going to put back on Team Victory."

"So you mean Ezekiel is going to be a team of one?" Alejandro asked. Chris nodded.

"Yep, I'm giving Ezekiel a chance to compete again but I'm not going to make it be easy for him." He chuckled.

"Come on that isn't fair!" Tyler said. Chris put his hand up.

"Look who you're talking to Ty." He laughed.

"Wait so Ezekiel's really going to compete now! When you know he's still _messed up_?" Cody asked. Chris shook his head.

"No, Ezekiel will compete but only after he recovers which I'm hearing from the doctors will take about 1-5 days, so that means we're going to stay in Vegas for a while." Chris chuckled. He clasped his hands. "But you guys still need to do a challenge so let's go!" He said as the rest of the contestants followed. As Noah walked with them he caught a glance at Gwen again.

For the last couple of days Noah had no idea what to think about the Goth. She was cocky and sarcastic but she also could have her emotional side if she wanted too.

Gwen cared about her friends even though she betrayed one of them for kissing Duncan.

She even cared about people who gave her a hard time, like Sierra.

But she also didn't take shit from anyone, including a host who tried to frame her friend and accuse him.

Now Noah finally figured out what those thoughts were about when he was fighting Gwen in Rome.

He figured out why he felt guilty when he ordered Gwen to vote off Sierra.

Noah now knew why how happy he felt after Gwen went off with her tirade on Chris.

Noah had a crush on Gwen.

Needless to say, that wasn't according to Noah's plan.

**Authors Notes: Yep so Noah found out that he has a crush on Gwen! And Ezekiel is going to be back in the game! **

**I apologize if this chapter is lackluster for some but I promise you that the next chapter will be big! **

**Like humungous, I'm planning that the next will break 10k!**

**But now I want to know your thoughts. Did you like Noah's new crush on Gwen? Do you like that Zeke's back in the game?**

**Another thing is that I have a poll up on my profile which I would like if you all would vote on. Basically I have another TD story idea but I'm unsure if I should do it until after NG is over. **

**Well as always please review and have a great day!**

**(1)- Oh Courtney, you don't know how wrong you are…**

**(2)- This footnote is to explain that as of now, I don't think that I'm going to have the contestants go to Australia ever. But hey, maybe I'll change my mind.**


	7. Happens in Vegas Part 2

**Authors Notes: I have a feeling that a lot of people will be disappointed by this chapter. Partly because I promised a 10,000 word chapter but I wanted to get this chapter out because there are some other projects that I'm working on, and I feel like getting this out here now will help this story not lose relevancy. Also I do want to address something before I'm done.**

**I will not make Duncan the bad guy! Actually as of now I like Duncan more than Gwen and Noah (I would like Gwen more but TDAS completely screwed her arc over.) And Duncan's my 5****th**** favorite TD character of all time. Just wanted to get that out there.**

**Other than that I hope my chapter delivers, all be it a tad bit short. **

**Enjoy :) **

_What a loser, gets out first twice_

_And what a sexist!_

_Yeah he's just some redneck_

_And selfish, remember how he clapped at that statement of greed?_

_Totally, he's just a loser_

_Loser_

_Loser_

_Loser_

Ezekiel woke up gasping for breath. Blinking his eye lids he could see bright white lights all around. The light burnt his eyes so much that he clutched them and yelped out in pain.

"Whe-Wher." The feral homeschooler tried to make a sentence.

"Easy now son." A husky voice said putting a hand on his shoulder. Ezekiel paused for a moment. The voice sounded familiar. One that he did not normally hear but one that he still did remember distinctly. Snarling he propped his head up to locate the owner of the voice.

"Che-Chef." The homeschooled snarled glaring daggers at the cook. Chef looked into the homeschoolers eyes and sighed.

"Damn it." He said in a low tone. "No wonder you hate me, Chris and I had basically starved you out on the plane…" Chef shook his head. "I don't know if you can understand me or not but you're in a hospital in Las Vegas. Doctors say you're going to get better in about 5 days, if it makes you feel better." Chef explained to the home schooled. Ezekiel just growled again in a low tone, trying to understand what the large black man was saying.

Ezekiel faintly remembered what a 'Hospital' was and knew that 'Las Vegas' was a place but he couldn't connect the two ideas in his brain. He just looked up at the Chef and growled again. He didn't care where he was, nor did he care what the Chef had to say. His muscles tightened as he squatted on the bed he was in, a pouncing position. In Ezekiel brain Chef was just like Chris, another person that mocked him about getting voted off early at every season.

Another person to yell and scream at him for his sexist thoughts

Another person to mock him

Another person to hate him for reasons that he didn't know.

"YAAAG!" Ezekiel let out a feral shriek as he jumped on top of Chef. 

Xxx

"Okay guys get off!" Chris ordered as the limo stopped. Noah raised his eyebrows at the hosts order. Looking out the window it looked like they were in some sort of desert, far from the tall buildings of Vegas that the host promised they'd go. As he got off the limo he was correct, looking to the right he could see the city but it looks like Chris had just dropped them at the outskirts of the city.

"What is this?" Heather growled a question to the host. "What did you run out of gas or something?" Chris smiled.

"Nope, this is just the starting point for the first challenge which I'll tell you all in a minute." He answered slyly. Just seeing how the host got back to his smug self so quick after Gwen ranted to him about the treatment of Ezekiel made Noah's skin crawl with anger.

"Everyone welcome to the gambling capital in the world Las Vegas!" Chris announced.

"You mean random desert in the middle of no-where." Heather quipped.

"I was getting to that Heather!" Chris yelled back at the queen bee. Composing himself he got back to his explanation.

"Yes we did drop you at the outskirts of Vegas which is why tonight's challenge is going to be trying to get through the city to the other side un scathed." Chris explained. "You see when you're gambling and drinking they're usually mobs and gangsters involved, therefore each team will be a mob for todays challenge. As a mob you guys have to dodge and evade the police which in this case are about 100 interns we got in the city trying to look for you guys in the city." Chris paused for a moment.

"But that isn't all. Being mobsters and gangsters you obviously have people that you want to get even with so we had one very special TD veteran hide themselves in the city. The first one to find said person and bring them back here wins their team immunity." Chris said his explanation.

"Who's the TD veteran?" Cody asked. Suddenly a look of fear crossed his face. "It isn't Sierra is it?"

"No." Chris shook his head. "But it's someone even scarier: Eva!"

"What!" All the competitors said at once.

"Yep." Chris replied cheerfully.

"But how are we supposed to catch her, she'll tear us apart!" Courtney asked. Chris shrugged.

"That's your guys' problem not mine. If it wasn't easy it wouldn't be much of a challenge now would it? And believe me, we got interns up the wazoo in this place, so keep on the lookout. And…. Go!" As soon as Chris said his last words he jumped back into the limo and said limo zoomed ahead until it was only a glint in the distance. Noah shook his head as the limo went away from them.

"Well I guess we should go now." Tyler said as he proceeded to walk towards the city. Noah and the other teens shrugged as well as they made way to sin city.

Xxx

Noah hated walking, and it seemed that this would be all this challenge would be. Walking around until they found Eva. Moments after Teams Chris and Amazon actually arrived at the city each team branched paths. And Alejandro had the 'brilliant' idea of splitting up the team itself to cover more ground in the city as well as thinking that if they dispersed the interns that were 'acting' so the police couldn't find them as easily. So here Noah was now, walking aimlessly around a city, surrounded by drunkards and gamblers trying to find a rage-o-holic girl that would most likely snap his neck in two if he were to get near her.

And that wasn't even the biggest problem the bookworm had today.

_Gwen_

Noah seeing that there was a bench near him took a seat on it to think about his new revelation. He had a crush on Gwen. Gwen: the person that he was blackmailing into an alliance along with Duncan. Noah just couldn't shake that feeling anyway he tried. She was smart, could offer some potent sarcasm, and she wasn't afraid to stand up for herself. Plus she was attractive…

_No!_

Noah just shook his head. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't. _This is just a minor crush that's all_. Noah tried to mentally tell himself. _Besides I can't mess this new alliance up, not when I'm so close to getting rid of Alejandro. This is a minor crush, like Bridgette once was!_

Noah shook his head again as he remembered his short lived crush on Bridgette which had started once Bridgette had been eliminated during Total Drama Action. To this day Noah still didn't know why he had that short lived crush with Bridgette, but there was something about her that Noah was attracted too. Of course Noah had no romantic interest in Bridgette anymore, but it was so strong before that he actually confessed his crush to Owen once and why Noah cuddled Bridgette for warmth in the Yukon.

Noah was even prepared to ask Bridgette out after she announced to Geoff and to the entire aftermath that she was threw with him, but that plan quickly died when they got back together and Geoff reformed.

_Yes, like Bridgette this feeling will go away soon. _

Noah told himself, he couldn't afford to distract himself. Not when he got the golden opportunity of the lifetime to get back in the game. Noah looking up saw that a small pub/restaurant was across from him. Noticing that he was quite parched from the walking and knowing that he still had at least 5 American dollars from the time he found 7 bucks on the streets of NY(1). Wanting to get a drink the bookworm got up from the bench and walked towards the pub to get a drink.

Xxx

"Turn left!" Courtney yelled as she forcible yanked Gwen's arm as they turned around the corner. The duo were running from a mob of interns dressed as policeman who were chasing after them. Gwen huffed as she tried to keep up with the C.I.T. Gwen wasn't horrible at running but she wasn't great at it either so it was hard for her to keep up with the athletic C.I.T. And Gwen didn't even knew how the interns even found them! Wait them? Then where were…

"Where are Heather and Cody!" Courtney yelled out as they ran thinking the same thing Gwen was just thought.

"Don't know Court, running for my life right now!" Gwen hollered out to the Type A. Gwen turned around and saw that the interns were catching up, and soon her and Courtney would run out of breath soon . If they get caught they surely would get eliminated from the challenge and Gwen still had no idea if Cody or Heather got caught yet by the interns. Gwen looked to the distance and saw that a fork in the road which branched off into two paths. Maybe if they would…. Yes!

"Courtney we have to split up, I'll go left on the street and you head right!" Gwen frantically told her plan. Courtney seemed to nod.

"Yeah, hopefully we'll shake them bette-" Courtney didn't have time to finish that sentence seeing that the road was coming up close that she quickly changed directions and sprinted off from their. Gwen did the same only in the opposite direction and ran the other way. Quickly glancing back she could see only a few interns following her as she tried to figure out how to evade them. Seeing that an ally way was nearby she turned and ducked in the small ally and hoped that the interns didn't see her.

She crouched their and waited but she could hear the footsteps get closer to her hiding spot, but soon it dissipated as the interns ran passed her not seeing Gwen hide for cover. Gwen just sat there, trying to catch her breath as well as trying to analyze the situation.

Courtney was being chased by a bunch of interns and she had no idea if Courtney either got away from the interns or got caught by them. And they were also separated from Cody and Heather when the whole team was ambushed, making Gwen has no idea if Cody or Heather were caught or not.

Still panting the goth brought herself to her knees. She couldn't worry about her other teammates now but to only hope that they evaded the interns pursuit and hopefully meet up with them later. What Gwen needed to try to do now is to make way through the city undetected and try to bring an anger proned Eva back to Chris so her team would win the challenge.

Which was easier said than done.

As Gwen panting subsided she began to stand up and brush off the dirt and grime which was on her knees and thought: _Where would Eva be?_

What did Gwen know about Eva? Not very much, and Gwen only remembered having one conversation with the her in her whole life. She knew Eva liked to excersise. A lot so maybe a gym would be plausible. She also knew Eva was prone to sudden outbursts of anger. Anger and exercise. Those were the only two leads Gwen had. And of course she couldn't check all of the gyms in Las Vegas, that would take all night! But she did know that Eva could get angry and when she was angry she screamed so if…

"YAAAAAHHH!" Gwen suddenly heard a loud shriek erupt from it looked like the other side of the street. It sounded like it came from the pub! Gwen nodded her head.

_I don't know if that scream sounded like Eva but no one like her could scream that loud._

Gwen thought as she walked across the street to the pub.

Xxx

Duncan was very pissed off. He was pissed off for a while now for a lot of different reasons. Firstly he was discovered in London by Courtney and Gwen and because of that have been dragged back into another season of Total Drama. The show that he already won a million dollars on, meaning that Duncan didn't really give a shit if he won or lost anymore. Oh sure he wouldn't mind having another million dollars in the bank, but because of him already winning once he wasn't that invested in the competition anymore. Hell, they were only 5 people through the whole show that Duncan actually liked, and only two of them were competing right now and only one of them was on his team!

Geoff and Beth weren't even casted for the show and DJ was voted off before Duncan even got there. So that left two people: Owen and Gwen. Owen, even though his bodily functions annoyed Duncan greatly at times, was an all-around great guy. He wasn't super annoying and basically went along with just about anything.

The latter however Duncan didn't know what to think. Gwen had voluntarily kissed him after the London challenge so why was she appearing so distant? Duncan had repeatedly told her time and time again that he didn't care if Courtney knew about their new relationship. So why was Gwen acting so strange and scared about it?

But worst of all was Noah. That little shit that Duncan was being forcibly black mailed into an alliance with. The dork that was using Duncan's vote to automatically vote for Alejandro ever elimination. Now Duncan didn't like Alejandro, but he wasn't the person that Duncan wanted to get rid of right away. That would be Tyler or Noah but because of the previous events that transpired Duncan would vote for Noah all the way.

So now here he was, walking around with Owen because Alejandro and Tyler split off to try to find Eva in hopes of covering more ground that way in the grand streets of Las Vegas, through throngs of people to find Eva.

"You want to get a bite to eat." Duncan suddenly asked. Owen seemed to stop for a moment and twitched as he looked at Duncan.

_That's weird. Why is he acting like that._

Duncan thought. Owen cleared his throat before saying: "It's okay, I'm not that hungry." Owen said halfheartedly. Duncan raised an eyebrow. Owen turning down food? Was he sad about something.

"You're not hungry?" Duncan asked, dumbfounded. Owen seemed to nod.

"Yeah." He said softly as the kept walking. Duncan frowned.

_What is with him?_

It was not only Owen's lack of wanting to eat that bothered Duncan, it was his tone. Owen was clearly sad but Duncan also detected fear in his tone. Owen was scared of something.

"You okay Owen?" Duncan asked again as they turned the corner. Owen rubbed the back of his neck and started to laugh nervously.

"Why wouldn't I be, it isn't like something happened last night." Owen chuckled as he walked.

_Last night?_

Duncan frowned again. Of course the delinquent now knew something happened last night, Owen was a terrible liar.

"Okay then." Duncan shrugged. Clearly Owen didn't want to talk about whatever happened and Duncan was just fine with that. Looking across the way he could see a local pub. For a brief moment he was going to ask Owen if they wanted to stop in there before he could see from the window that Noah was at a small table there. And Noah was the last person Duncan wanted to talk to.

"I think I we should check of here." Duncan said turning the street corner quickly hoping that Owen didn't see Noah through the window. He was afraid that if Owen might've saw Noah he would want to go into the pub.

Xxx

Noah drank his glass of water silently as he saw an angry drunkard scream obscenities as he walked out of the bar. Apparently from what Noah could gather the guy lost another money on a bet which caused him to scream. Noah shook his head as looked towards the door but then his eyes grew wide.

Gwen had walked in.

Noah gulped as his eyes locked onto the Goth. With the backdrop of the night sky as she closed the door Gwen looked pretty good to Noah. Noah shook his head again trying to get the thought out of his head. Gwen scanned around the room until her eyes met Noah's as well. Shrugging she began to approach his table.

"I assume Eva isn't here if your sitting here." She said. Noah shook his head.

"Nope." He replied. Gwen shrugged.

"Is it okay if I sit down, I was just running from some interns a couple minutes ago?" Gwen asked. Noah nodded his head and Gwen sat down. Gwen put her hand on the table drummed her fingers on the table, looking a little irritated. The two sat in uncomfortable silence for a few minutes.

"So… read any good books lately?" Gwen asked him. Noah was surprised that Gwen asked him that so bluntly but nodded.

"Actually I just started reading _The Hobbit_ for about the 1st time." Noah shrugged. Gwen looked rather surprised.

"The _first time?_ I thought for someone like you would of already read it." Gwen chuckled.

"I read the lord of the rings a bunch, just couldn't find myself time to read the Hobbit." Noah shrugged yet again. "It's pretty good so far." Noah said. Gwen nodded and the two sat in silence once again leaving Noah's eyes to wander. At first the egghead looked around at the other people who were mostly drunk in the pub until his eyes settled on Gwen.

The goth, who was looking at the bar just looked pretty to Noah. Her face looked sophisticated but had a flare to it that Noah loved.

He quickly looked away.

_What am I doing? _

He asked himself again closing his eyes. Opening them for a brief moment he tried to look back to the bar but something had stopped him. Gwen's breasts.

Gwen was leaning with her arm and slouching in such an angle that Noah could see the top parts of the two of them. Noah knew he should avert his eyes, but he couldn't. Suddenly Gwen sighed and slouched even further so that Noah could now see more of it. So much more that he could see her some of her black bra that she wore. Noah could feel himself turn beat red and grow very hot. Tugging at his collar he coughed and looked away. If Gwen saw what he was doing then….

"Oh, Neil and Gren!"

Noah suddenly looked up dazed, as well as worried that someone saw him looking at Gwen. To Noah's relief it was not and the speaker was… Lindsay?

She was running down and waving to them as she spoke.

"Lindsay?" Noah and Gwen said at the same exact time. Lindsay nodded as she ran to them and stopped.

"This like so cool that I found you guys we needed people to interview!" Lindsay said happily. Turning her head she called out.

"Lefonda! I just found Neil and Gren!" Lindsay called out.

"Lindsay, I told you it's Leshawna!"

"Oh sorry!" Lindsay apologized as the lively sister walked out towards them. Her eyes brightened up as she saw Gwen.

"Hey girl!" LeShawna greeted her friend. Gwen seemed to perk up seeing that LeShawna was here now.

"Hey LeShawna! When did you get here?" Gwen asked rather curious to see both the blonde and the big sister at Vegas. Noah looked intrigued at this as well.

"Blondie-

"Blainely." LeShawna corrected Lindsay.

"Oh yeah. Blainely and Geoff said that two ex-contestants should go to Las Vegas and interview some of the contestants on the show." Lindsay explained. Noah raised his eyebrows.

"And Blainely is…" Noah said waiting for someone to complete his sentence.

"The co-host to celebrity manhunt, she and Geoff now host the aftermath." LeShawna replied rather gruffly. Gwen looked confused.

"Bridgette didn't come back as co-host after she got eliminated?" Gwen asked. LeShawna looked a little confused what Gwen said but shook her head.

"She did but then-" LeShawna paused and closed her eyes for a second.

"And?" Noah said impatiently. LeShawna opened her eyes and casted a glare at the bookworm. "Geoff and Bridgette had a great big fight."

"Yeah Geoff had heard a lie from Blainely that Bridgette was cheating on him again so he confronted Bridgette." LeShawna explained. She shook his head. "Dang boy jumped to conclusions." LeShawna muttered softly. Gwen raised her eyebrows as she thought about the party boy.

When Gwen first met Geoff she thought he was a complete douchebag. Just glancing at the guy he just seemed like one of those party boys that would get drunk every weekend at Gwen's school. It wasn't until the final 6 challenge in Total Drama Island did she really like Geoff. He wasn't the stuck up douche bag that Gwen thought he was.

Then came TDA however and then Gwen began to loath Geoff once again. He just seemed now like a totally different individual and his happy and carefree personality changed into a self-absorbed greedy jerk. Gwen still didn't get that party invite that Geoff had promised her on Total Drama Island…

"So basically Blainely sent you two to interview us?" Noah asked breaking Gwen's thoughts. LeShawna nodded.

"Yeah, but I'm not going to go through with it. I'll jus

t come back to her and say that we couldn't find anyone or something." LeShawna mumbled.

"Yeah, besides I the only reason I volunteered was that I knew I was going to see Tyler…" Lindsay said dreamily but then suddenly her eye browsed raised. "Wait, do either of you know where he is?" She asked. Noah rolled his eyes.

"Probably somewhere with Alejandro." Noah replied putting negative emphasis on 'Alejandro'. Lindsay looked a little downtrot.

"Oh okay I guess that means I'll have to look around for him." Lindsay said getting up from her chair. Smiling she turned back to the group. "Bye LeShawna, bye neil and bye Gren!" Lindsay said as she sped out of the pub to look for Tyler.

As soon as Lindsay walked out of the door Noah was hit with a sense of urgency. If Lindsay did eventually find Tyler then that means she could possible spill his alliance with Gwen and Duncan… Noah gathered that Gwen had the slight fear as well because her face turned to the look of slight fear. LeShawna noticing this rolled her eyes.

"If that girl could hardly remember people's name then I doubt that she could remember the _blackmail_ that you are doing." LeShawna said turning her attention towards Noah frowning. Noah hearing this frowned back as well. Here we go.

"Yeah she also probably couldn't remember that this _blackmail_ is going to help get rid of the person who caused the most, if not all of the eliminations this season." Noah countered. LeShawna frowned again.

"Although I can probably think that Lindsay could remember that _two wrongs don't make a right_ saying that is so often said." LeShawna growled back. Upon hearing this now Noah was mad but tried to contain it and snickered.

"Because you knocking Heather's teeth out in Germany was totally not committing _two wrongs."_ Noah replied sarcastically. LeShawna narrowed her eyes once again.

"I admit that was a stupid mistake that I made, one that led me getting eliminated in the game. Which further proves my point." LeShawna countered glaring. Noah gave a deeper glare to LeShawna and tried to think of an insult or retort to reply to the lively sister but could think of none at the moment. Between accidentally looking at Gwen's cleavage and getting frightened that Lindsay would spill the beans to Tyler the bookworm couldn't really think straight.

"Look LeShawna can we stop talking about this." Gwen interrupted. LeShawna's eyes turned to Gwen in shock.

"Gwen I'm not judging you about you and Duncan, I-

"I know you're not. You're practically my best friend and I know you're more mad about Noah's side to this whole thing but please just stop. There's no way you're going to convince Noah anyway to drop the deal anyhow so we shouldn't talk about this any longer." Gwen said. LeShawna was very taking back on what Gwen said. Of course she hated that her best friend was getting blackmailed into an alliance by some sarcastic twig boy, but she did respect her friend's needs of wanting her to stop.

"Alright, sorry girl." LeShawna sighed. "But this isn't just your safety that I'm mad about." Noah raised his eyebrows.

"You're worried about Duncan?" Noah asked.

"Heck no!" LeShawna answered. "Why would you even… Never mind. I was talking about _Owen_." LeShawna answered. Noah raised his eyebrows in thought.

_Owen?_

What did he have anything to do with this. Noah racking his brain with thought didn't notice how nervous Gwen was being when LeShawna spoke of Owen's name.

"What do you mean about Owen? He has nothing to do with this." Noah answered. LeShawna growled softly.

"What do you mean he has nothing to do with this!" LeShawna answered now almost getting to the point of her anger that she had a few moments ago and maybe even more so. How could Noah care so little about Owen's well being in all of this? "The guy found out from Trent and Harold that you were doing this with Gwen and Duncan, and him being so guilty about this whole thing wants to vote himself off because he'll think he'll accidentally spill the beans to Alejandro!

He's sacrificing himself for _your_ safety! He's giving up a million dollars for _your _safety! And now you say he has nothing to do with it!" LeShawna yelled out so loud that some people from the bar turned their heads to them.

"I'm sorry Gwen but I have to say it! Noah if you have no sympathy for Owen what so ever then you're just as bad as Alejandro!" LeShawna ended her tirade. LeShawna huffed and panted as she waited for Noah's retort to her rant at him. She was expecting an almost to casual roll of the eyes or another sarcastic quip directed towards her, or at the very least Gwen would intervene again. She got the complete opposite instead.

Silence. Complete and utter silence. Gwen looked so pale that she was going to faint and hung her head in shame but it was Noah that most surprised her. His jaw was a gape and his eyes grew as wide as plates. For the first time it seemed like Noah was completely speechless.

He had no sarcastic reply

No cleverly disguised statement that would change the question

And no defense that could save himself

Just silence.

It looked to LeShawna that Noah didn't hear this information at all until now. Maybe it was the first time that the egghead heard or Owen knowing. Could, could Gwen not have told him?

"Oh, oh shit." LeShawna cursed. "Noah, you didn't know?" LeShawna asked. Noah still took a good long minute before he could answer LeShawna's follow up question.

"N- No." Noah squeaked out. Noah voice didn't sound like Noah's but it sounded more like Cody's but with a slight deeper pitch. LeShawna closed her eyes and shook her head.

"Damn it, I thought tha- that never mind." LeShawna said shaking her head. But Noah didn't hear what LeShawna said. All he could think about was Owen.

Owen, his best friend, was doing…. What!

"LeShawna, I want you to tell me exactly what happened. Leave out _no _details." Noah commanded. LeShawna looked a little taken a back at Noah's request but did as he commanded and proceeded to tell the bookworm what she knew.

Xxx

Heather was running for her life. Well not literally but she was running to stay in the challenge. Moments ago the whole of Team Amazon had been ambushed by a squad of interns cos playing as police men. They all ran but looking back now it seems like the team somehow split in two with all the ruckus with Heather only having Cody by her side now.

"Heather what should we do!?" Cody yelled as he tried to keep up with the Queen Bee.

"I don't know! Shake them somehow!?" Heather yelled back a retort. Yes that's what they needed to do. Shake them somehow. Heather knew that she couldn't keep running for much longer and Cody more so being less athletic than her.

"Heather I have an idea!" Cody shouted.

"What is it!?" Heather shouted back.

"I-I can't tell you!"

"What! But ho-"

"Sorry but it'll take to long to explain! Just when I say 'now' stop dead in your tracks and curl up into a ball!"

"WHAT!? Cody that's a horrible plan!"

"You gotta trust me on this Heather!" Cody yelled out back to the Queen Bee. Heather sighed in defeat. She didn't know what to do but she knew she didn't have a plan herself to get out of that. And as much as Heather hated to admit it Cody was pretty smart, and agreeing with his plan of action would gain some points with him….

"NOW!" Cody hollered as he lunged to the pavement and curled himself into a ball. Heather did the same and did and crashed down onto the rough pavement below. Heather then felt a food crash into her back as piles of interns fell in front of her. "Okay Heather, now get up and run the other way!" Cody hollered. Heather did as Cody instructed and got up running away with him in the other direction. She turned back to see a pile of interns sprawled out on the pavement with many of the pedestrians looking at them in confusion.

Heather and Cody ran about 3 blocks before both of them stopped to catch their breath and luckily there was a bench that they could rest at. Both of them didn't say a word as they sat, exhausted they both wheezed and panted as they tried to catch their breath. It was at this moment that Heather finally realized that there was a sharp burning on the front her left leg. Looking down she almost gagged as Heather saw a long streak of red blood on her leg. Heather must've had too much adrenaline from running in the opposite direction to notice the pain on her leg.

"Heather your leg." Cody said shakingly pointing to her leg, now noticing the Queen Bee's injury.

"Yeah, I noticed Cody!" Heather snapped back at the tech geek now clutching her leg in pain, now feeling the intense pain of the injury. She gasped in pain as she continued to clutch it. Cody frowned as he analyzed the situation. Obviously Heather needed some help with her wound but there wasn't anything that the tech geek could do to heal the injury.

Plus the interns could come back at any second and the Queen Bee wasn't in any condition to run again. Looking for options he spotted a hospital across the street. Maybe they would have a bandage or something that could help Heather out.

"Heather, I think we should go to that hospital across the way." The tech geek suggested pointing to the medical building as he spoke.

"Why would we want to do that?" Heather said still clutching her leg.

"To a… Help you with your leg." Cody pointed out pointing out the obvious. Cody saw Heather's face contort into thought for a second before realizing what Cody was saying.

"Fine…" Heather grumbled as she tried to get up. As she tried to stand up she winced and began to move downwards a bit prompting Cody to help her.

"Lean on my shoulder Heather." Cody said as the Queen Bee took Cody's shoulder as they walked towards the hospital. Heather was amazed at how Cody wanted to help her; even after her previous track record with TDI and TDA.

_Maybe's there is more to that perverted tech geek then meets the eye._

Heather pondered as Cody and herself went through the doors to the hospital.

Xxx

It still took a long time to process what Noah heard from LeShawna. And even longer to properly articulate his plans to them on what his next move should be.

Apparently Trent awoke in the middle of the night to talk to Harold on Skype and made way to the cargo hold to do so. And by pure coincidence Owen woke up as well and made way to the cargo hold in order to find some food. From what LeShawna told Noah: When Owen got to the cargo hold; Trent and Harold were in deep conversation and instead of saying hello to them he hid. And Trent and Harold were discussing Noah's Gambit!

After Trent said the deal to Harold in its entirely Owen sprang up, obvious flabbergasted by the whole ordeal. Then Trent and Harold went and tried to calm the big oaf down and sometime after they did so; Harold commanded Trent to show Owen a video where Alejandro's confessionals were all mashed up together; which allowed Owen to (Finally) see the latino's true intentions. But then Owen….

He wanted to vote himself off because he thought that he'd reveal the truth about him Gwen and Duncan. And even though LeShawna made it very clear that Trent and Harold tried desperately to talk the party guy out of it, Noah still felt this uncontrollable rage towards both Trent and Harold.

"So Owen's planning to sacrifice himself, correct?" Noah asked out of the blue. LeShawna nodded her head.

"Yeah, pretty determined to have that happen." She said. The lively sister sighed. "Look Noah, I'm sorry about snapping at you before. I just thought that you would've known about this." LeShawna explained.

"And how was I supposed to know that?" Noah asked. LeShawna just shrugged her shoulders.

"I just thought that Gwe-." She stopped midsentence now fully realizing what happened or what didn't happened. However Noah was interested on what LeShawna had to say.

"You thought what?" Noah spoke, really wanting to get to the bottom on the matter.

"I just thought Gwen would've told you." LeShawna said softly for the usual loud and proud girl.

"Wait you knew!" Noah said swinging his head around to face the Goth who for sometime hadn't talked in a while through the duration of the conversation. Gwen cringed as she heard Noah's yell.

"Noah I was only told about what happened this morning from Trent." Gwen said rather calmly. She wasn't used to the bookworms sudden outburst of anger.

"From Trent?" Noah asked with Gwen nodding in return. He was about to make another outburst but controlled himself and sighed. He learned a long time ago that great emotional impulses wouldn't due him good in the long run. But what did work for him was careful planning and ultimately choosing the right course of action to take from that planning.

And to save his friend from certain elimination Noah needed to ditch his plan into sabotaging his own team for Alejandro's departure. He now knew that he needed Team Chris to win next challenge and after which he needed to talk Owen out of doing what he was planning to do.

"LeShawna-" The bookworm started to speak rather calmly. "You were sent here by Blainely right?" He asked again.

"Yeah but how does tha-"

"Did you meet with Chris before you went out with Lindsay into the cities to do the interview?" Noah asked again, a plan shaping in his brain.

"It wasn't just with Lindsay it was with Eva as well, but it was short." LeShawna answered.

"Do you know where Chris told Eva where to hide for the challenge?" Noah asked. LeShawna furrowed her brow in thought.

"I think I do, they rented out an old Japanese restaurant on Uzamaki street." LeShawna remembered. "It was called…." She said trying to think of the name. Suddenly she snapped her fingers. "The Jasmine Dragon!" LeShawna said. "I'm certain that's where Chris sent Eva."

"Then that's where I have to go." Noah announced standing up from his seat.

"Say what now?" LeShawna asked.

"My original plan was to have my team lose this challenge so I can send Alejandro home but because of what Owen is planning to do I have to change it. Owen will surely get eliminated if Team Chris loses this challenge meaning that I have to have Team Amazon lose. Then hopefully while in first class I can convince Owen to vote for Alejandro with me and Duncan and we'll send Ale home next challenge." Noah told the two girls his plan.

Gwen was shocked at how mature Noah handled the situation and even more so that he came up with a plan on the spot. But most of all she respected the lengths that Noah took on going to save Owen. Even if it meant delaying Alejandro's elimination.

"String bean-" LeShawna started to say standing up. "I was wrong about you. Here I thought you were just some cynical egghead trying to capitalize on Gwen's situation but now I know that I was wrong. You're a pretty good guy." LeShawana said. Noah nodded his head, bewildered by the sudden compliment that LeShawna gave him.

"Thanks." Noah said quietly and suddenly turned to Gwen. "Are you coming?" Noah said motioning Gwen. "I saw Duncan tag along with Owen so he should know about this. Plus if your team loses you have a chance to get rid of Heather." Noah explained hoping that Gwen would follow him. He had a slight fear that Gwen would object to his plan at having Team Amazon lose.

"Sure." Gwen said standing up. "You're right, we have to stop this." Gwen agreed. Noah nodded his head and turned back to LeShawna.

"Thanks for the information LeShawna." Noah said. But soon he walked out of the bar with Gwen at his side before LeShawna could answer.

**A/N- AAAAANNNNNNDDDDDD, Scene! I actually had another scene of Cody and Heather at the hospital written out but I decided on keeping that scene to open up the second chapter to this. But other than that a lot of questions remain.**

**Who will find Eva and win the challenge?**

**Will Noah and Gwen be able to get to Owen and try to talk him out of what he's trying to do?**

**And will Lindsay ever find Tyler?**

**And most importantly, who will take the drop of shame?**

**All this and more will be answered in the next chapter of Noah's Gambit!**

**Also, the Jasmine Dragon is Uncle Iroh's tea shop in Avatar the last Airbender and Uzamaki, is Naruto's last name from well…. Naruto. **

**I don't know why but those two names just came to me so I put them down.**

**-ewisko8**


	8. Happens in Vegas Part 3

**A/N- And Welcome back to Noah's Gambit. A lot's in here and I don't want to spoil it so I'll just leave it to my super long end notes. Other than that enjoy!**

The night Las Vegas air turned to a sharp cold as Cody and Heather walked out of the hospital. Heather had just finished bandaging her leg wound that she got when she and Cody were tumbling past the interns cos-playing as cops. Luckily for the duo, the hospital was having a rather slow day and gave them the bandages free of charge, which was lucky because both teens had no spending money on them.

"So is your leg doing okay now?" Cody asked awkwardly putting a hand behind his head, scratching his neck. Heather shrugged.

"It still hurts like hell, but I can manage." Heather replied feeling the long white bandage that was on her leg. In all actuality, Heather didn't really know if she could manage. Every time the queen bee tried to walk on the leg that was injured, she would feel brief but very powerful pain.

But Heather couldn't give up now, not when Team Amazon would most likely send her to a tiebreaker situation if they lost…

"Hey, uh, Heather?" Cody asked pointing across the street. Heather turned her head to the tech geek.

"What?" She replied, irritated that the tech geek broke her train of thought.

"Isn't that Gwen and Noah?" Cody said pointing to the sidewalk. Heather looking to the direction that Cody was pointing too tried to look. Squinting she saw two jogging figures down the sidewalk, one having blue highlights in her hair and the other she could catch a red/blue shirt the figure was wearing. Soon the two joggers turned the corner and couldn't be seen by the Queen Bee or Tech Geek.

"I think you're right." Heather said turning back to Cody. "But why are they jogging?"

"Maybe they figured out where Eva is?" Cody suggested.

"But why 'together'?" Heather said again. "What would that goth do with the bookworm?" She asked. Cody picking up on this twiddled his fingers.

"Heather I'm pretty sure they aren't in an alliance. I know Gwen and Noah and they aren't the type of people who would be in one, not like this at least." Cody explained. "Maybe they're racing or something."

"Racing?" Heather asked. "You really think Noah would want to challenge Gwen to a foot race? The person who hates exercise more than Owen hates dieting." Heather finished. Cody hearing this coughed awkwardly.

"Yeah you're right, stupid thing to say." Cody said weekly. "But whatever the reason, we should go catch up to them just in case they do know where Eva is." Cody ended. Heather seemed to nod.

"Fine, then let's go." Heather said and the duo proceeded to walk (or in Heather's case hobble) over to where Gwen and Noah were.

Xxx

"Uzamaki street… here it is." Gwen said looking at the small greenish sign that signified their destination. "Noah we should proba-" Gwen was stopped midsentence to see Noah panting heavily and sitting on the sidewalk, obviously tired from the jog they did to get here. Seeing Noah in his tired state caused Gwen to smirk.

"Tired already? We only ran about a block or two." She said.

"Sports-ha-not-ha-my-ha-forte-remember." Noah said gasping between words. Slowly the egghead stood up, brushing off the dirt and grime from his pants. Gwen chuckled a little at that.

"Right, stupid question. But in all seriousness: What was the place LeShawna told us about?" Gwen asked the bookworm.

"The Jasmine Dragon." Noah said, now fully recovered from the run. Gwen nodded her head.

"Sounds Chinese though, why would it be in the Japanese section?"

"Because Americans are ignorant to other people's cultures and think all Asian people are the same." Noah answered. "But most Chinese food here is basically a poor American imitation of Chinese food so it doesn't really matter anyway."

"Yeah I know, the fortune cookie was made in America." Gwen agreed. "I remember my brother watched a South Park episode like this, I mean like how people don't know the difference from Chinese and Japanese."

"I think I watched that one with Cody too. For a pretty stupid show that one wasn't that bad." Noah agreed. Gwen chuckled.

"Wow, Chinese food to South Park. We really got off topic." Gwen spoke up. Noah nodded his head.

"Yeah." He said quietly but he suddenly saw something. "But I think that's the Jasmine Dragon right there." Noah said pointing. Gwen turning around to see what the egghead was pointing saw that he was right. The restaurant was a rather small building with two green dragon statues in front of it. On the top part of the wall it had a sign with green letters spelt out 'Jasmine Dragon'

"Well let's get this over with." Noah said walking towards the door. Gwen nodded in agreement and followed the bookworm towards it.

Xxx

Duncan coughed quietly as he made way with Owen through the streets of Vegas. Asking an old man moments ago they learned that it was now 11:30 Vegas time meaning that they were wandering now for about an hour. Duncan didn't care who won, but now wanted the winner to be announced soon so he could get back in the plane, away from the cold air of Vegas.

Owen was also beginning to make him grow suspicious. Why was he acting this way? Duncan growing ever frustrated turned the corner with Owen.

"Uzamaki Street?" Duncan asked seeing the sign. "For some reason that seems familiar."

"What do you mean?" Owen asked. Duncan shrugged.

"I don't know wasn't that from a T.V show or something?" Duncan said walking away from the side. Owen scratched his head and caught up beside him.

"I don't know sounds like it's from those Anime shows."

"Anime shows?"

"Yeah I remember Noah was arguing with Cody in Jamaica about them. They're really confusing." Owen said scratching his head. Duncan shrugged.

"Whatever." He started to say while eyeing around the street. Everything looked ordinary except…

"Isn't that Cody and Heather?" Duncan nudged Owen. Owen looked and the delinquent was right. Heather had a bandage on her leg and was hobbling on the sidewalk and Cody who was walking beside her.

"I guess so." Owen shrugged. Duncan gave Owen a weird look. He was completely perplexed at Owen's non caring attitude. Duncan was now sure that something was bothering him. He was sure of it.

"Hey guys!" Duncan and Owen both turned their heads to see Tyler running towards them. He was covered in green paint and on his tracksuit their was several of what looked like stickers from My Little Pony on him and his hair looked rather ruffled. "Guys, guys, guys." Tyler ran to them panting. "Ale, Ale got captured by the interns and Courtney did too I think!" Tyler explained wheezing after every sentence. As Tyler was explaining his story Duncan was just chuckling. He just looked so stupid.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha!" Duncan let out a hearty laugh. Tyler swung his head to the delinquent.

"What's so funny!" Tyler said.

"Oh, oh sorry dude." Duncan laughed. "You just look so ridiculously stupid!" Duncan let out another laugh. Tyler frowned.

"It isn't funny! Ale got kidnapped by the interns! And I think Courtney but I couldn't tell." Tyler said again scratching his head. "Wait did she get away…" He shook his head.

"What about Courtney?" Tyler, Owen and Duncan both turned their heads to see Cody and Heather walking towards them. "What about Courtney?" Heather asked again.

"They got caught!" Tyler yelled again. "And then _they _are probably going to come for us soon!" Tyler yelled again.

"Calm down Tyler." Cody tried to calm putting his hand on the tall Jock's shoulders. "Just start from the beginning." Cody said. Tyler nodding proceeded to tell his tale.

_Xxx_

"_Alejandro can we take a break?" Tyler asked. "I feel like we've been walking for a while." Tyler said. Alejandro shrugged. _

"_Sure mi amigo! Where would you want to rest at?" Alejandro said. _

"_What about near that building." Tyler said pointing to a large building to the right of them. Tyler looking at it saw there was some benches nearby but the building was what intrigued him. It had many colorful colors up and posters and banners of what he could see were candy colored miniature horses. Alejandro had a look of doubt on his face however._

"_Dosen't that look like a My Little Pony place though?" Alejandro asked. Tyler seemed to grin at that. _

"_Oh wow, I just started to get in that show before I got on the plane!" He said. At Tyler's boast Alejandro had a look of surprise on his face. _

"_Really?" Alejandro asked. "You started to get into to that… thing." Alejandro asked._

"_Yep, Lindsay got me into it 2 days before the competition." Tyler said. "I think when I see more of it I might become a brony!"_

_Confessional Cam_

_Alejandro: *Shaking his head* My little pony… How I hate that show! It's stupid, it's made for prepubescent girls, and it's just so stupid! And the people who watch it are the most stupid people on the planet! *Scoffs* Bronies! Speaking of which, it's no surprise why Tyler wants to be one of them. Generally stupid people like to converse with other stupid people. _

_End Confessional. _

_Tyler and Alejandro walking towards the building now saw that a lot of people were conversing in the front of it. As what the Latino and Jock saw it was definitely something to do with My Little Pony, must likely a brony convention of some kind. All around them people had MLP themed merchandise and sometimes they could see costumes of the ponies themselves. _

_When they got at the bench, Alejandro could notice that a lot of the people their were mixed. He assumed that most would be socially awkward and child molestor type people but the persons who were there seemed to be normal. It almost convinced him to give the show a shot when he got off of Total Drama. Almost._

"_Hi." Soon Alejandro's thoughts were broken by two guys walking over to them with the greeting. One was wearing a rainbow dash themed shirt and hat while the other was wearing a fluttershy themed one. "You guys seem new, welcome to BronyVegas." _

"_BronyVegas?" Tyler asked._

"_It's an annual MLP con held in Las Vegas." The fluttershy man said. "Anyways, what's your favorite pony. As you can see mine's Fluttershy."_

"_Fluttershy. Ridiculously overrated." The rainbowdash man scoffed. "RD is where it's at."_

"_You're wrong!"_

"_No, you're wrong!" _

"_Fellas, fellas." Tyler said putting his hands on their shoulders. There is no need to fight, love and tolerance remembers that's what my girlfriend told me what this show was all about." Tyler reminded. Alejandro still had a weird look on his face. _

"_I guess you're right." The fluttershy themed man said._

"_Yeah, I'm sure anyone of the Mane 6 would be mad at us if they knew we were arguing about them." The rainbowdash guy agreed. _

Mane 6? _Alejandro thought. They're talking about them like they're real._

"_Anyways what are both of yours favorites?" The fluttershy man asked. _

"_Spike!" Tyler said proudly. At that moment Alejandro sensed that all movement from both of the men had stopped. Also the crowd of people that was around the conversation all stopped talking and looked at Tyler. Most of them looked dumbfounded and some disgusted. _

"_Spike?" One man from the crowd went walking up to Tyler. "You like Spike?"_

"_Well yeah." Tyler said now feeling the uneasiness. "I mean I only watched two episodes of the show but he seems like a cool character. Like the one where he was Applejack's servent."_

"_YOU LIKE SPIKE AT YOUR SERVICE!" They all gasped out. "THAT'S THE WORST EPISODE OF THE ENTIRE SERIES!" _

"_AND HE ONLY WATCHED TWO!"_

"_THESE GUYS AREN'T REAL BRONY'S"_

"_AND LOOK AT THE JOCK! HE DOSEN'T LOOK LIKE HE EVEN WATCHED MLP!"_

_Alejandro now felt a sudden sense of urgency as a plethora of fans started walking to them slowly, looking that they wanted to kill them. Alejandro was about to warn Tyler to run before he felt a gigantic fist to his left jaw. _

_Stuned by the attack the latino tried to run but in his daze landed on a smaller brony. Alejandro, dazed that he fell took a few moments before he received a hard knee to his crotch from the brony. As he got pushed off the little guy to the ground he clutch his crotch and yelped out in pain. Soon he saw dark blackness as he got hit in the head with a plastic Twilight Sparkle toy. _

_Xxx_

_Tyler dodged a punch that was thrown to him from a brony and proceeded to hightale it out of there. Running on impulse he didn't realize that Alejandro was on the ground and just took off running. He jumped over a rather short brony who was aiming for his crotch as he turned behind him to see some of the brony's were following him. Not nearly as much as before, only about 5 of them were chasing them. Two of which were the Fluttershy and Rainbowdash guy's that they met before. _

"_YOWCH!" Tyler not paying attention head was flung straight into a girl, face first into her torso. Both teens fell down with a loud thud on the sidewalk, with the girl landing back first. Tyler, still to dazed to know what was going on just lied their almost in his own little world for a few seconds._

"_Tyler! Get the hell off of me!" The girl shrieked, this brought Tyler back to reality and to realize that the girl he almost crushed was Courtney. Trying to get up the jock tried to explain._

"_Courtney, we gotta- we gotta." He frantically pointed back to where the brony's were running towards them. "They're gonna get us!" Tyler yelled out. _

"_What do you think I was doing I was running from them!" Courtney screamed pointing to the back of her. Tyler looking behind Courtney saw that a squadron of interns were pursuing the C.I.T and were now gaining speed on them. Tyler's jaw dropped as he saw the interns._

"_Oh crap!" He yelled suddenly jumping to the street and making a break for it on the other sidewalk. Turning around he could see the interns, jumping on top of Courtney as well as the Brony's colliding into both of them. As he got to the other side of the street his heroism took over him and wanted to help the C.I.T. "Courtney I'll save you!" Tyler said swinging around. However Tyler didn't see properly when he spun around and knocked over a ladder which was positioned to be stationary and leaning against a hardware store. As Tyler knocked it over the man who at the time was carrying a bucket of green paint to the roof of it fell and the bucket of paint landing face first on Tyler's head causing green paint to splatter on him._

"_Damn it kid!" The man said on the ground. "You could have killed me!"_

"_Aw jeez sorry!" Tyler said standing up having the paint of off him. "I'll help you clea-" but Tyler was stopped dead in his tracks by the sight of the Brony's and Interns pursuing him. Again his instincts took over and he fled from the scene and ran full sprint through the streets of Vegas. _

_Xxx_

"So you're saying that from all of that, you just led a bunch of interns and brony's who want to kill us to us!" Heather yelled to the jock.

"We-we-we gotta hide!" Tyler yelled out. Cody was the first one to jump at Tyler's suggestion and scanned the area for potential candidates to hide in. One of those seemed like an old abandoned Chinese restaurant entitled the Jasmine Dragon.

"Guys, we could hide in here!" Cody said pointing to the restaurant. The others, especially Tyler, rushed hurryingly to the restaurant hoping that it'd be their salvation.

Xxx

Noah scanned the room as Gwen shut the door gingerly to the old abandoned restaurant. Gwen felt that she needed to shut it so because if she didn't she felt that the door would fall off.

"Where do you think she is?" Gwen said scanning around the room. Noah shrugged.

"Don't know, we should ke-

"I'm right here." Noah and Gwen's head both turned to the left to see that Eva was sitting in the far corner of the restaurant with her same angered look on her face. "It took forever for someone to find me!" She yelled again, her voice rather hoarse. Noah seemed rather unfazed at Eva's anger, he was used to her constant yells.

"Look, Eva I have a proposition for you." Noah walked over. On the way over here he made sure to plan exactly what he was going to say so to not make Eva mad, and for Eva to agree for what he is about to say. Eva seemed to smirk at Noah.

"You'd might want to ask them about it first." Eva snickered pointing behind them. Noah puzzled turned his head to see two interns standing behind him and Gwen. At break neck speed the two interns grabbed both the egghead and the goth so they couldn't escape.

"Let go!" Gwen said, struggling to get out of the interns grasped.

"Sorry, Gwen." The intern said. "Chris's orders." The other said a similar apology. Noah grumbled as he felt the tightened grip of the interns on him and sighed.

"Since when did Iron woman need some goons to do her dirty work." Noah said slyly. "Unless she cut down on her weight lifting training." Noah cursed himself in the middle of his head after he said that. He needed to calm Eva down, not anger her.

"What! I can bench press you and Goth here like's it's nothing!" Eva yelled out in anger. Noah could see Gwen shooting a glare at him that looked like '_I don't want to get killed today. Calm her down.'_

"I can concede to that." Noah started. "But back to what I was suggesting before: Why don't you just call this whole thing off and just come so my team could win." Noah was make sure to give his explanation fast before Eva went on another tirade. "Heather is on Team Amazon and if you hate her so much than it wouldn't make sense to even risk trying to fight so Team Amazon could win which will benefit Heather." He motioned his head to Gwen.

"I also know for a fact that both her and Courtney are going to be voting for Heather the first chance they get come elimination. Not so sure about Cody, I think he's leaning to vote for Courtney but worst case scenario it'll be a tiebreaker and most likely Heather will leave this contest at this elimination if Team Amazon comes down to it." Noah ended his long winded explanation. Eva thought about Noah's explanation for a minute and seemed to smirk. "You know what Noah: you're right. Why should I have that, back stabbing, two timing Heather get rewarded!" Eva hollered that last part. Calming herself down she got her normal pseudo angered face back.

"Fine let's go."

"Umm Eva." The intern that was holding Gwen spoke up. "Didn't Chris want whoever sang the best song should go with the respective team?" The intern ended, scared that Eva would beat him up. Eva just glared at the intern.

"Is Chris here?"

"Well, no."

"So let me go with Noah then." She said loudly. The intern sighed but obliged the Iron Woman's request and took of his grip with Gwen with the one who had his grip on Noah doing the same.

"I'm glad you see it my way." Noah said walking towards Eva. Eva nodded in agreement as she started to walk towards Noah but she stopped for a moment.

"Hey aren't you-' she stopped midsentence to point at Gwen. "On Heather's team?" Eva asked. Gwen nodded.

"Yes. Look Eva, because of some other stuff that happened previously I really don't care if my tea-'

"I got it." Eva said walking around Gwen. "LeShawna, Lindsay and I saw what happened on the plane. Forgot about it as all." Eva concluded. "Now, get me back to that plane so I can punch Heather into her lying stinking face!"

"A little to far." Noah said putting his two fingers like he was having a pinch of salt. Eva sighed.

"Whatever, let's ju-

"We can hide here!" All heads turned to see Cody opening the door to the abandoned restaurant. Suddenly the tech geek saw Noah, Gwen and Eva and had a puzzled look on his face. "Noah… Gwen? What are you guys doing here?"

"Well are you going to get in there or not Cody you're blocking the, oh." Soon Heather said those words as many other people filed through the doorway to the restaurant. Noah could see that most of the entire cast was here. Cody, Heather, Tyler, Owen and Duncan were all accounted for but he noticed that Courtney and Alejandro were missing from the set. He could also see that Tyler was covered in green splotches of paint.

"Cody what are yo-'

"No time to explain." Tyler panted walking into the restaurant with the others following. "We gotta hide!"

"Tyler you're not making sense." Gwen said. "Why do we have to hide?"

"It's kind of a long story." Cody sighed. "But Tyler's convinced that he might've led some interns and even some Brony's over here." Noah and Gwen just looked each other in puzzlement.

"Brony's?"

"Yeah, like I said long story." Cody said nervously taking his hand while scratching behind his neck. "All we know is that Alejandro and Courtney are captured and we might be next if we don't lay low for a while." Cody concluded. Noah and Gwen just looked to each other in confusion both wondering what events that transpired that led Cody and the others to come to this odd conclusion. However with these new events transpiring it seemed that both teams were now working and co-existing as one, all forgetting about the competition for now. All except Noah.

As the rest of everyone were trying to find hiding places under various chairs and tables Noah at this moment was calculating how to get Eva back to the plane for his team. His original plan was to just sneak through the city with Eva while Gwen would try to find her own team and lead them astray from himself and Eva, so that they wouldn't find them. But now all of the competitors from the two respective teams were in here, meaning that after they hid from the interns a while, all players (With the exception of Gwen) would try to get Eva to secure victory for each respective team.

Noah thought about this hard when he hid behind a table with Gwen and Cody. Noah glancing to his side noticed that Gwen also had a nervous look in her eyes, probably thinking the same thing Noah was.

Suddenly Noah's and everyone's else's hearts jumped when the old creaky door to the restaurant opened and to their chagrin it was the interns who were giving chase to them. However he could also see two men with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy paraphernalia around them.

'_Those must be the Brony's' _Noah concluded.

"Hey, Billy and Willy, did any of those kids find Eva yet?" One intern asked. The one on the left nodded his head.

"Yeah, they're all under the tables we just have to corner them and then get them all." He said pointing to the various tables that all the contestants were under. The intern that asked the questions seemed to smile.

"That's a relief, I was afraid that Chris would fire us if we came back with only two contestants."

"Yeah he probably wants a lot more for ratings." Another spoke up.

"Well I guess we should…. You know get them?" Another asked.

"Yeah I guess that would be best."

"Agreed." The first intern who asked the question said. Scratching his hand behind his neck nervously he said. "Um.. We got you surrounded! So you should come out now… er… If you know what's best for you!" The intern said shakingly. Noah chuckled, obviously this intern wasn't the threatening type.

"Oh yeah well make me!" Eva yelled jumping out of her hiding place. "Listen I'm going with Team Chris and that's all there is to it, do any of you have a problem with that!" Eva yelled out to all of them showing them her fist. Many of the interns gulped and moved aside from the door. Noah started to smirk at this but his smirk vanished when he noticed that the 6 brony's who followed them were still standing by the door.

"We still want an apology for the red suited guy about how he teased us!" The fluttershy man demanded.

"Yeah!" The rainbow dash man agreed. Noah rolled his eyes.

"Tyler apologizes to them so we can get going." Noah said.

"But I didn't make fun of them!" Tyler yelled out. "All I said was Spike was my favorite character from the show and they just freaked out at me!"

"See!" The rainbowdash man pointed. "There he goes again; mocking the fandom by saying that 'Spike' is his favorite character. No one can call himself a brony and say that Spike is his favorite character."

"Why can't they." Cody squeaked getting out from behind the table. "Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, if Tyler thinks Spike is his favorite character than he shouldn't be killed for it." Cody concluded. The two men just looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Fine, but that guy still isn't a real brony!" They both said at once. Looking towards the door the two motioned the 4 others that followed but were stopped when they heard the old T.V in the corner sound to life.

"Attention! Attention! This is a broadcast from channel 7 action news." The announcer said quite loudly on the screen. "We've just received a live feed inside the famous Total Drama Jumbo Jet where Chris Mclaine is currently residing while the contestants of Total Drama World Tour. Here is the message." Soon the screen fades to black but reapers with Chris's smug face on it.

"Alright! This is taking way to long so I have to do this. Hello people of Las Vegas! As you know or don't know I have 9 teenaged contestants roaming around the streets of Vegas trying to find 1 other teen for the challenge. 2 have already been caught but we still want more to apprehend. And I want them to be apprehended by you! Yep, we want any person in the Las Vegas area to try to apprehend any of the Total Drama contestants except for Eva and return them to the jet, alive of course. Your reward? A chance to be an intern on the show! And not one of those interns who test stuff I mean you'll get to live in first class for the entire season doing next to nothing of work for me!

So that's my offer, anyone who brings the most TD contestants minus Eva gets this reward. I'm going to show you pictures of the contestants right now! Also we changed the location to bring the kids to The _Mindo_ Hotel. Not hiking through the desert to get them cause that would take way too long!" Soon the screen faded to 7 pictures of Cody, Gwen, Noah, Tyler, Duncan, Owen and Heather appeared on the screen. "Anyway get me any of those people for a chance to intern and Mclaine out!" Soon the monitor returned to showing images of the news.

All was silent for a moment, as all of the Total Drama contestants had their mouths a gape at what Chris did. How the heck were they ever going to go through the city undetected now when all of its citizens were going to now try to capture them? But Noah also had another fear.

Eyeing the 6 brony's that were there he could see light bulbs going off in their heads, and all of them were probably thinking about the new reward that Chris just announced.

"We better be going soon." Cody chuckled walking towards the door nervously probably thinking the same thing that Noah was thinking.

"Yeah." Tyler said as well walking towards the door with Noah and the rest of the contestants including Eva in tow. The 6 brony's nodded and let them pass as well as the squad of interns (The latter due to them being afraid of what Eva might do if they didn't let them pass.) Noah still got that feeling that they were going to due something as they past. Opening the door the 9 contestants kept walking down the steps and to the sidewalk while Noah glanced back to see the Brony's and the interns were walking towards them in the same direction. And as the group picked up pace in their walk so did the group behind them.

"They're gonna try something soon." Noah whispered to Gwen who nodded in reply.

"I say we sprint for it when we turn the corner." Duncan whispered to them. "I sense them trying to make a move soon."

"What! I don't want to run!" Eva whispered harshly. "I can beat up these guys with one hand tied behind my back!"

"Easy Iron woman." Noah chided noticing that the group was near the corner. "We have to focus all our energy into getting you on that plane so Team Chris will win."

"And why should your team get Eva?" Heather angrily whispered. Noah seemed to smirk at that.

"Because Eva wants to go to our team and she'll probably break your neck if you try to tell her otherwise." Noah smirked gesturing to Eva who grunted a reply. Heather frowned for a moment but seemed to nod her head in agreement. However in actuality the Queen Bee could not let Eva fall into the hands of Team Chris. Not with her elimination being a 50-50 chance of happening if they did lose.

"Now!" Duncan shouted as he turned the corner breaking into a full sprint.

XxX

Gwen turned around as he was sprinting now, panting with each step he took as he saw the interns were chasing them yet again with the Brony's. Apparently the six of them wanted to be interns. Go figure.

And what's worse was that the mob was growing ever second with people noticing the Canadian teens from the television and were now running after them post haste. Glancing to her front there was Duncan who was more or less trying to lead the group on where to go and while they were running was dictating where they should turn left or right which the group was trying to do. Looking behind her she could see that many of the people didn't match the speed as her and Duncan. Heather seemed like she was catching up to her at least and Eva was matching Duncan's speed and starting to surpass it, but Cody and Tyler were a bit behind them and Noah and Owen looked like they were going to pass out soon. It didn't look good to say the very least.

Suddenly Gwen felt a great force pull her entire body to the left making the goth trip. Gwen had not time to react as she was forcibly yanked into the allyway. Gwen letting her instincts take over knocked the person who did so in the jaw with her elbow and tried to run.

"Wait I'm trying to help you!"

Gwen hearing those words moved turned her head to the side to see not one of the interns or brony's but a teenager who looked normal. He wore a green shirt brown pants and a base ball hat with what Gwen could read said "Pinkie rulz!" Strike that, he was a brony.

"Look." The guy said putting his hands up. "Please just let me explain, myself before you run off or whatever." Gwen gave the guy a strange look at how forthright he was but nodded her head. His voice sounded sincere.

"Okay, explain then." Gwen replied. The man nodded.

"Look ,er, I mean I don't really know you but I was at that Brony thing and-' he stopped midsentence to cough awkwardly. "And I saw how those guys were treating your friends, oh what were their names?" He twiddled his thumbs and thought. "Al and Taylor or something."

"I think you mean Tyler but go on." Gwen nodded.

"Yeah him." The man said snapping his fingers. "Anyway I saw how some of the guys went beserk on him for liking Spike and how they chased and helped those other people get that Al person." He stops to sigh. "This is probably going to be all over the news to 'Beserk Brony's help capture reality show stars'" He sighed. Gwen nodded but was getting a bit frustrated that the guy was taking so much of her time.

"And then I saw on the T.V that you guys were actually reality show stars from that Chris person." He stops again. "And I just want to just defy the stereotype you know."

"Stereotype?" Gwen asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, how all Brony's are either insane, man children or both. And because that some Brony's attacked you and your friends from the show you were on I just thought it was my duty to at least help one of you guys not to get captured by those, I guess they're called interns." The man finished and with it came a long awkward pause that filled the Vegas air as Gwen tried to process what the man said and what actually took place.

A brony had just pulled her into an allyway and offered his help because he felt like he needed to 'defy' the brony stereotype as well as to, as one could put it, help Gwen from what his 'kind' did to her.

But Gwen needed to get to Eva, as well as well as to help Noah get the girl to the finish line so Team Chris could be victorious. With this guy pulling her in she was now no where near Eva or Noah!

"Gwen?" Soon the goth's head turned around to see Noah clutching his stomach and walking into the allyway. "Why did you-" he pauses to gasp. "Walk in here?" Noah asked again. The bookworms eyes moved suddenly to see the man who was awkwardly smiling and scratching his neck behind his back which made his eyebrows raise. "And who's this?"

The man proceeded to tell Noah what he told Gwen just a few moments prior but with more explanation. Apparently his name was Paul and he was one of the first brony's to ever come about since MLP first aired. But the major info was all the same, he seemed determined to help the cast however he could and to make a point that all Brony's weren't like that.

"So that's it, I guess." Paul finished his explanation. "So I guess you guys can hide out here if you want til the competition is over or-

"I appreciate the offer." Noah interrupted. "But unless you can pull a jet pack out of your ass have the strength to carry an over 200 pound over athletic girl to a hotel than I don't think you can help either of us." Noah said and seemed to smirk. "Or you have some Twilight Sparkle magic and give us super powers."

"Why do you guys keep referencing bad episodes? Power Ponies was awful…" Paul chuckled. "But seriously, I'm really trying to help you guys so I can help you find this Eva person if you want. I also lived here all my life so I know a bunch of different short cuts. Speaking of which what was the hotel that the Chris guy said to go to with that Eva person?"

"The Mindo." Gwen remembered. "Of course he didn't tell us how to get there."

"Which I can help you guys with." Paul reminded. "Look, I don't know anything about, what is it, Total Drama but if I have to guess that someone from either team is going to eventually bring that Eva girl to the hotel right. And even if it takes forever that Chris guy is eventually going to either push the other people who are chasing her in the right direction so it'll happen, probably soon because on the T.V he sounded pretty frustrated on how long this was taking.

So let me at least show you the quickest way their so you two can sit and wait for them with that Eva person. Then when she comes you can, I don't know, beat them up or something so you can take her to yours team."

"Beat them up?" Noah asked raising an eyebrow. "Yeah because totally can bench over 100 pounds."

"Sorry, I don't know what goes on your show!" Paul lamented. "Reality shows are stupid in my opinion."

"And shows about candy colored horses aren't?" Noah replied.

"At least it has an interesting plot."

"About magic and candy colored horses."

"Hey, don't judge a book by its cover!"

"My good sir I've read plenty of books in my day and the cover _is _meant to be judged."

"Guys!" Gwen yelled trying to cease the two's arguing. "You can debate which show is better later! Paul can you just take us to the Mindo." Paul smiled with what the goth said.

"Thank you for coming around, really it means a lot to know that one person knows that Brony's aren't all like that."

"Wait, Gwen are you sure about this." Noah spoke up. Gwen shook her head.

"Noah, I think the guy is telling the truth. Besides we're already lost from the main group anyway so what do we have to lose?"

"And what if this guy is lying and just going to lead us to where all the other Brony's are and get us captured?" Noah countered. "We barely know anything about this guy except for his name and that he likes some girl show."

"It's not a girl show!" Paul yelled.

"And I'm a 100 foot tall purple dragon." Noah replied his voice with sarcasm. "Besides we still have to warn Owen! I don't know how you can think to trust some crazy nut like when Owen's on a guilt trip!"

"You think I don't care about Owen, Noah!" Gwen said rather loudly walking up to Noah's face, pushing Paul off to the side in the process while pointing her finger towards Noah's chest. "I care a lot about Owen!" She backed away from Noah for a second. "He- he didn't even care that I kissed Duncan when he was still with Courtney, and now he's paying the price for it. Noah, I do care about Owen!" Noah saw a single tear fall of off Gwen's eye for a second landing on the floor and suddenly Noah was hit with another emotion of guilt about what Owen was doing for them. He also felt sad that he caused Gwen to hurt that way.

"But you can't chase them on foot." Paul interjected. Gwen and Noah both turned to the Brony forgetting he was in the ally with them.

"What." Gwen choked.

"Look, I don't want to get in the middle of anything but it's pretty obvious you're not going to be able to catch this Owen guy on foot not now anyway. But you can intercept him at the hotel when he does get there."

"And how do you know he will get there." Noah replied frowning. Paul shook his head.

"Well I'm not sure about that, he could be captured by interns already but who knows." Paul shrugged. "But even if he has you guys still have to get Eva back to the hotel and sitting and waiting there is the best option." Paul explained. It was at this time where Noah agreed with what Paul was saying. It was true that Owen might not even get to the hotel if some others were with Eva and got caught. But if he was caught their was nothing they could do anyway. And their best course of action now was to trust Paul to take them to the hotel."

"Fine, I believe you." Noah spoke. "Take us to Mindo." Paul nodded as Gwen composed herself and stood upright again.

"Great!" Paul said clasping his hands together. "Quickest way to Mindo is through through this Allyway and then you guys just have to follow me." Paul instructed as he walked briskly out of the allyway. Gwen and Noah not wanting to be left behind walked briskly to catch up.

Xxx

Alejandro hated losing. He also hated not knowing anything. Which was why the latino simply loathed being trapped in the basement of the hotel that Chris had instructed the interns to put the contestants if they got caught. Not only did the latino have to deal with the immense bordom of being trapped in here, but he had no idea what was happening with the rest of his team. The only other person who was in the basement was Courtney who did not look like she wanted to talk.

_The teams are merging soon though._

Alejandro thought to himself. He also knew from previous season that Courtney was a strong competitor, it would be wise to at least talk to her for a little bit and gauge if she was a threat or not.

"Gum?" Alejandro said pulling out a piece of gum from his pocket and extending his arm to the girl with the treat. Courtney shook her head.

"No thanks." She replied simply. Alejandro shrugged.

"Okay _senorita."_ Alejandro said putting the stick of gum in his pocket. Smiling evilly he said: "You don't seem as bad as the delinquent let on."

"What?" Courtney said surprised. "What did you say?" Alejandro smiled as he began to weave a web of lies to the girl.

"Oh nothing, I shouldn't of said anything." Alejandro said.

"No tell me." Courtney said. "If someone was bad mouthing me behind my back I want to know." Courtney said.

"Very well, you're right. It's just that the Duncan fellow you seem to be sweet on can have such a vicious tounge when he wants to be. Ever since he joined the team he's been constantly complaining about your behavior from this shows last season, of course never watching the show before I have no idea if he was lying or not." Alejandro lied. In preparation for season 3 he had a marathoner of Total Drama Island and Total Drama Action to gauge his opponent's weaknesses and strengths.

"Really? Why would Duncan do that?" Courtney faltered scooching closer to Alejandro. The latino shrugged.

"I do not know, but you should not worry about it. I'm sure being on an all-female team you all have complained about your respective lovers before." Alejandro reassured.

"Yeah." Courtney nodded. But her voice was not sincere.

**Confessional Cams**

**Courtney: **Why would Duncan say stuff like that behind my back! I mean I know him and I haven't even had an actual conversation since Gwen and I found him in London. Plus we did get into a fight just before his elimination from the game the first time….

**Alejandro: **And the seeds of distrust are planted. I know that Courtney isn't a priority at the moment but Duncan is and anything that can slow that criminal down the better.

**End Confessionals**

Suddenly Chef Hatchet swung open the door to the basement and pushed Tyler and Owen down the stairs. "Only two again, those interns need to be better hunters." Chef mumbled as he closed and locked the door to the basement of the room. No one caught Alejandro snicker as Tyler landed on top of Owen as they finished their fall.

"YOWCH! Ever heard of over kill guy!" Tyler yelled back to Chef who wasn't there anymore due to the door being shut.

"Ugh." Owen muttered as he got up with Tyler. Alejandro noticed that the large teen looked a bit downtrot, more downtrot than he was in Itally about Noah. Meaning for Alejandro he'd be even easier to manipulate. Waltzing over to Owen and Tyler put his arm around Owen.

"You look a little sad my friend." Alejandro said slyly. Owen seemed to jump at Alejandro, like he didn't expect him and winced.

"A little." He said half-heartedly. Alejandro furrowed his brow in thought. Owen was acting a lot different from Italy, now it was almost like the large teen was a bit scared of him and Alejandro could also feel a little bit of anger in Owen's voice.

"Do you want to talk about it Owen?" Tyler spoke up. "Maybe Al and I can help you?" Tyler finished with Alejandro wincing when Tyler called him 'Al'. Owen's head seemed to twitch for a moment. He couldn't tell Alejandro about what he was sad about that would ruin Duncan, Gwen and worst of all his best buddy Noah's chances in the game. But Tyler was his friend, maybe he could tell…

No! Owen couldn't he- but Al was being so nice….

"Well, it's just that… that…' Owen tried to say. In his mind it was hard to wrap around that Alejandro was bad and even harder for Owen to get the words out. Owen couldn't lie… But he could tell the truth!

"I just really miss Izzy." Owen finished. What Owen said was not a lie, in actuality he still did miss his girlfriend dearly so in his mind he felt all right.

"I know how you feel man." Tyler said. "I really miss Lindsay myself." He seemed to chuckle. "Actually for a while I kind of thought you were gonna steal her from me Al."

"Really?" Alejandro said trying to act surprised.

**Confessional Cam**

**Alejandro: **I probably could of if I used enough effort. *He smirks* For as much of an idiot Tyler is he sure knows how to pick his _senoritas_. Her _Tetas _are amazing…

**End Confessional**

"It'll be okay amigo, you'll get to see her after the competition is over." Alejandro reassured. Owen nodded his head.

"Yeah but I broke up with her and I'm just afraid she might, move on from me after I get there." Owen said. Suddenly Owen had an idea. An idea that could guarantee himself being out of the game without using any sabotage. "Do you guys mind if-' Owen sighs mid sentence at what he was going to ask. "_Vote for me next time we lose so I can see her."_

"What!?" Tyler yelled out. Courtney who heard him gave him a weird look before Owen and Alejandro shushed him. "Sorry for yelling." Tyler whispered. "But seriously Owen, I don't think you have to basically quit the game just to get back together with Izzy, I'm sure she'll stay loyal."

"But I don't know about that Tyler." Owen replied. "I mean when we were dating before I was always worried that she might've had a crush on Ezekiel."

"But Ezekiel is going to be in the game now." Tyler pointed out. "Izzy can't start a relationship with Zeke if he's on the plane."

Owen not foreseeing Tyler's logic wrapped his head around. "Yeah but I still want to see her." Owen said, unable to think of another reason.

"But it's a million bucks!"

"Now, now Tyler." Alejandro interjected. "If Owen wants to see his girl, as his friends we have to do whatever it takes to have him see that goal." The Latino finished. Tyler just gave the Spaniard an odd look and one too Owen as well. How could Owen be so content on throwing away a chance for one million dollars? And for that matter why was Alejandro so agreeable to Owen's suggestion? Sighing the jock took one last look at Owen.

"You're absolutely sure you want to go threw with this?" He asked Owen quite seriously. Owen nodded his head, he wanted to get voted off truly even if it was for a different reason than what Tyler knew. Tyler nodded his head in return. "Okay Owen, we'll do it."

**Confessional Cam**

**Tyler: **I don't like voting for Owen but if he really wants me too….

**Alejandro:** This is an interesting turn of events, even I didn't even expect it. Owen wants to be voted off? Well I was planning to keep him for a while longer for a vote or two but it might be better this way. Owen probably would refuse to vote for Noah and I can always manipulate Tyler for a vote or two…

**End Confessionals**

Xxx

It amazed both Noah and Gwen how well Paul knew his way around Vegas, considering how many times the duo was lost it surprised them how someone actually knew where to go, and to where they wanted to go no less!

"Here it is Mindo hotel." Paul said pointing to a medium sized hotel to their left. Upon not careful inspection Noah could see that the outside paint on the building lay all in white with a pool on the rooftop as himself, Gwen and Paul continued to walk towards it.

As the trio got there and to Gwen and Noah's dismay they could see two rather buff interns standing side by side by Chris Mclean who was smirking ever so smugly.

"Finally some more people got caught! I thought I was going to have to cut this challenge short considering how long it took you guys to get caught." Chris said looking at his watch. Glancing up from it his eyes laid on Paul which reminded him of something. "Er, yeah and you I guess you're first place for interning on the show unless someone comes with more contestants which I seriously doubt so good for you."

"Woah, woah." Paul said holding his hands up. "Yeah, sorry, I didn't actually bring these guys to you, like in capturing them." He motions his hands to the street. "I just led them here so they can wait for that Eva girl to come so they can get her I guess." Paul explained. Chris just gave Paul a weird look.

"Uh yeah it dosen't really work like that. You brought em to me so they're gonna get caught now." Chris said snapping his fingers. Upon snapping the two burly inters grabbed Noah and Gwen by the torso and lifted them up.

"Oh great we were betrayed by a brony. So didn't see that coming." Noah said sarcastically trying to squirm free.

"No, wait I'm sorry I didn't know your host guy was going to be waiting for you." Paul said putting his hands up. "How was anybody!?"

"He said _Bring them to the Mindo_ of course Chris or someone would be there to get us unless we got Eva, it's common sense." Noah retorted.

"Yeah well if it's so much like common sense than why didn't you think of it smart guy!" Paul countered. Noah's face froze for a second at Paul's logic.

"Shut up." Noah replied back due to him not being able to think up a good counter argument.

"Enough already!" Chris shouted silencing both the brony and the bookworm. "We've already wasted enough time as it is and I don't want to waste anymore camera time with you to arguing now interns if you can plea-

"Guys look!" Gwen shouted getting her arm free from the intern and pointing straight. The two interns, Noah, Paul and Chris and gaped in awe at what they saw.

Xxx

Cody felt like he was going to throw up. Running was not his strong suit (nothing physical really was) and running from a plethora of interns, brony's and whoever else wanted to capture them so they could get that intern job that Chris promised. They had already lost Tyler and Owen which happened because of the former tripping which caused the latter to be knocked down with him while the whole group was running for their escape. And Cody feared that he might be next.

Duncan and Eva were very much in front of him especially the latter and Heather was still in front of him only less so. Sooner or later if they couldn't find that hotel Cody would be ran over.

_That'd be a funny way to go. I can see it now in the paper: Tech Geek flattened due to reality show challenge!_

"I see it!" Duncan yelled hoarsely seeing the Mindo hotel in the distance.

"Good! Just get me over that line so your stupid team can win!" Eva shouted back.

"And why should his team win!?" Heather yelled back.

"Because if you make it otherwise than I'll kick your backstabbing butt back to Canada!" Eva countered. Heather growled back but said nothing. How can she possible do this? Heather knew that she had to act quick now or Duncan would get Eva across the line first causing Team Chris to gain a victory. And for herself to lose a spot in the game!

Heather with adrenaline pumping through her veins sprinted fast to where Duncan was just falling short of Eva. Duncan noticing the Queen Bee catching up to him glanced to the side.

"What are yo-' Suddenly Heather with a swift push with her left arm pushed the delinquent off balance causing him to fall on the Vegas road below. Duncan rolling on the ground cursed heavily as Cody, Heather and Eva passed, whom Cody and Eva had no idea about due to both of them concentrating on the running. Heather smirked and let out a laugh as the delinquent fell to the ground. Eva turning around and seeing Heather growled.

"Where's Duncan!?" She yelled.

"Oh he's right about….. YES!" Eva confused turned around and saw that she was going to run right into the Mindo and stopped at the front door.

"What the ho-"

"And Team Amazon wins!" Chris announced seeing that Heather and Cody were the closest in proximity to Eva when she got there. Heather smiled in victory as she fell to her knees in exhaustion, knowing that she escaped elimination. Cody did so too, he was relieved that this challenge was all over even if Eva was screaming right next to him to Chris because of Team Amazons victory.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS!" Eva screeched out. "I thought that back stabbing Heather would be going for sure!"

"Maybe next time." Chris said looking at his watch. "Crap! We are way off schedule. Like way _way _off so Team Chris meet me on the roof of the hotel for the elimination ceremony pronto. As in right now." Noah's eyes widened.

"Can't I just have a minute." Noah asked exasperated. "I'm exhausted."

"No! We already lost as much time as it is. You and Duncan just get on the elevator or whatever to get up there. We should of finished filming this like an hour ago." Chris said pushing Noah to the building. Duncan rolled his eyes but followed the host and the bookworm.

Xxx

Noah thought that he would at least have a little time with Owen before the elimination ceremony. However to his chagrin Chris actually was telling the truth about having the elimination ceremony 'pronto' and in no time at all he was now standing on the flat roof to the hotel, where the bleacher from the plane and Chris's podium from the plane was there as well.

"Get in your places!" Chris ordered causing all of the contestants from Team Chris to scurry to the seats on the bleachers. Noah sat next to Owen on the bottom row while Duncan, Alejandro and Tyler sat on the bleacher which was higher than them.

"Alright we gotta get this rollin so just write whoever you want voted off on these pieces of papers." Chris said throwing slips of papers to all the members of Team Chris. "Whoever is voted off can't come back yadda yadda yadda and vote!"

Noah marked his paper by writing the name Alejandro and handing it back to Chris who was collecting them. Soon when the host got all of the papers he took them to the pedestal and read them.

"Really? Wow! I thought for sure that he was going to go but him!" Chris said to himself. "Alright I'll still read the votes out loud. First vote goes to Al."

Noah shrugged it off.

"Second vote for Al."

Noah shrugged it off again.

"Vote for… Owen. Wow that's suprising."

Noah's eyes widened in fear as the word 'Owen' was mentioned as the one of the votes. Duncan also looked up from the ground he was staring at and was also looking a tad nervous of his friends name being mentioned.

"Wow! Owen again! I didn't review the footage so you must've sucked at the challenge today's O." Chris said rather fast.

That's when Noah gripped his seat in fear. _Owen_. That couldn't be right. He knew he was going to vote for himself but who would vote for him? He swore that Alejandro and Tyler would've voted for him!

"And the final vote goes to….

…

…

Owen." Chris finished. "Sorry dude the gang has spoken." Chris added. Owen seemed to smile when Chris announced his name, as if a huge weighted feeling had been lifted from his shoulders. In his mind, with him gone Duncan, Noah and Gwen were safe. And that was all that mattered.

"I get to see Izzy again!" Owen said happily. He turns to everyone. "Bye guys, it was fun." Noah just sat there and looked at Owen. So willingly to go. He was willing to lose a million bucks. He was willing to lose it just for Noah's sake. That made Noah's stomach hurt.

Owen seeing Noah in pain smiled and walked over to him.

"See ya buddy. I'm rooting for you to win!" Owen said squeezing Noah into a bear hug.

"Why." Noah squeaked out. "Why did you do it." Owen looked confused.

"What buddy?"

"Why did you vote for your-

"ENOUGH ALREADY!" Chris yelled out to the both of them. "I have to sign some paperwork to get some new intern and have to wait until Zeke gets better plus with all of the time it took you guys to get Eva I'm ending this now." Saying that he snapped his fingers and soon Chef pulled Owen off from Noah and gave him a parachute. Leading Owen to the side of the building he pointed to the ground where a Limo with an open roof was waiting below.

"Land in the limo and it'll drive you to an airport back to Canada." Chef instructed. Owen nodded and turned back. "Bye guys it was fun!" He yelled to them before he jumped off. Owen decending from the hotel landed in the limo where the driver pressed on the gas and drove, driving so fast that the limo was only a glimmer in Noah's view in seconds.

"AND THAT'S A WRAP FOR TOTAL DRAMA WORLD TOUR!" Chris ended. "We good, alright." Chris said to the camera man who was filming and soon began to walk off the roof. Noah still just sat there and looked to the road, his road that his best friend just departed on.

The road that was the end of Owen's journey on World Tour.

The road that completed the journey of Owen's guilt about knowing about Noah's Gambit.

The road that led Owen back to Izzy.

Noah despised that road. He also despised himself, Duncan, Alejandro, Tyler, Heather all of the people on this show.

All except for a certain blue haired Goth, the only one besides Cody who Noah could tolerate and even love in this game.

And it was at this moment where Noah made a vow that what happened to Owen wouldn't happen to Gwen.

**A/N- AND SCENE! Ending may be rushed but hot diggity damn this is over 10,000 words already so I think I can let that slide.**

**Anyway, this chapter introduces a new character into the story, Paul. Yes he's an OC but he isn't going to be a contestant and I think I made him quite funny. He'll be an intern working along side Billy and such.**

**Also I know some people will ask me this I am a Brony. And most of you would have to be too to get the MLP refrences that I had sprinkled throught the chapter and yes like Tyler I do like Spike. Not my favorite character but he'll probably be my third favorite. I also have an idea for an MLP fanfiction that I may want to do but it's in it's pre planning stages and if want to know anything about that project just PM me. **

**Next chapter will have some more Gwen/Noah moments and more Gwen/Duncan moments. I know this is Gwen/Noah but I during this time in the story Gwen is still attracted to Duncan and needs to go through that before she develops feelings for Noah. **

**Other than that please read and review and have a great day :D**


	9. Strategies and Breakups

**Hello all and welcome to the latest installment of Noah's Gambit! **

**Now I must be frank with you all, I'm not entirely pleased at how this chapter came out. But I've actually rewritten this chapter over 3 times already and I think this version is the best that I can come up with. But enough of me stalling, let's get to the chapter!**

**But before that, I forgot to add the elimination order last time and the voting results. Oops! For your convince I posted the voting results down below. Enjoy!**

**Voting results**

**Owen- *Self Vote***

**Tyler- Owen**

**Alejandro- Owen**

**Noah- Alejandro**

**Duncan- Alejandro**

**Eliminated: Owen**

**OOE- (Every canonical elimination that was prior to 'I see London'), Sierra, Owen**

After Owen's elimination, a lot of events transpired thereafter that happened in such a rapid rate that Noah needed to mentally recount them all in his mind, just so he can properly understand them.

Firstly, Chris had booked all of the Total Drama contestant's rooms in the Mindo hotel, which wasn't entirely correct, the host booked rooms for all of the people who took part in today's challenge one way or another, meaning that Eva, Lindsay, LeShawna and Paul were to have rooms as well. The middle two (Lindsay and Leshawna) arrived about a half an hour after the challenge ended with them lying about them meeting any one of the contestants for the interviews. However back to the room arrangement the only catch was that the host only had enough spending money for each contestant (And Paul) to _share_ a room, meaning that each of them had to buddy up. Gwen and Courtney buddied up which forced Heather to share a room with the only Amazon teammate left: Cody. Tyler and Alejandro buddied up for a room at first opportunity which left Noah to share a room with Duncan.

Lastly, Lindsay and LeShawna shared a room together which left Paul to share a room with Eva, and both persons did not feel quite satisfied with the arrangement. Noah was surprised that Paul even took the intern job that Chris gave him but the brony insisted that to make it up to the whole of Total Drama because of the other brony's rampage he would stick around and help out. He still wanted to prove that not all brony's were like that.

Ezekiel was still in the hospital though which was the whole reason why the contestants were going to have to stay in the hotel until the prairie boy was fully recovered to compete which the doctors said would take about a week or so.

"If he was there for the entire duration of your competition than I don't think we could save him." One of the doctors who were working on the case said. "But he's not too far gone that there's a definite chance we can save him, but you cut it close. A couple more weeks and his brain would be permanently damaged."

Chef Hatchet was still staying with Ezekiel however, only leaving for the rare bathroom break. Unlike Chris, Hatchet still harbored guilt at how he let the prairie boy become a Gollum like creature. A guilt that wouldn't be lifted until Ezekiel recovered and forgave him. Noah must likely assume that Cody or Tyler would organize some contestants to visit Ezekiel tomorrow.

So here Noah was now in his room, on his bed to be more precise, reading _Into the Wild_. Duncan was in the bathroom, most likely to wash himself up for bed. Noah yawned but heard a slight ring for the phone for the room which was situated at his nightstand. Sighing he picked up the device and put it to his ear.

"Noah, are you there?" A voice asked.

"Cody? Why are you calling?" Noah replied indicating that he figured out that the caller was Cody.

"Tyler and I were just wondering if you wanted to go visit Ezekiel with us. We already got Alejandro on board and I'm sure Ezekiel would appreciate it if you'd visit him with us." Cody responded.

_Alejandro_

Just hearing that name made Noah twitch with anger. He was one of the persons who voted for Owen's elimination.

Even if no one told him, Noah figured out very easily that Alejandro voted for Owen last elimination ceremony, him and Tyler both. Why wasn't there any votes for Noah at the last elimination ceremony, or Duncan and Tyler for that matter? Al and Tyler must've voted for Owen and even though the bookworm didn't know why they would do such a thing Noah still knew that for a fact.

"Uh, are you still there?" Cody said again.

"Yes, I am." Noah said. "Look, Cody I'm exhausted maybe tomorrow I can visit Ezekiel with you but not tonight." Noah replied. He wasn't lying. But another reason why he didn't want to go was because of both Alejandro and Tyler voting for Owen. He didn't want to face either one of them tonight.

"Oh okay." Cody replied a little down trot. "Have a good night then." Cody ended.

"Likewise." Noah said almost putting the phone down on the receiver.

"And Noah." Cody spoke up again. "I'm sorry about Owen getting kicked off of your team." The tech geek added. Noah's brow furrowed at Cody's last sentence.

"Why should you be? You didn't vote him off." Noah replied bitterly.

"Yeah but I'm still going to miss him though, heck I thought with your team losing and all that Tyler would be the one going home due to him and his- Cody pauses to clear his throat -'brony predicament slowing you guys down."

"Well I voted for Alejandro." Noah replied.

"Yeah I know but I thought that Duncan and especially Owen would vote for him due to him being the reason you guys lost." Cody pauses for a moment. "It's weird, Gwen got real sad after Owen left. I know she likes him, we all do really, but she wasn't this sad when LeShawna or Bridgette left and she's even closer to them." Cody trailed off.

_Gwen_

"And this is relevant to me how." Noah asked with sarcasm, desperately trying to get off the subject of his new gothic crush and even more desperately trying to end the conversation before Duncan over heard them.

"Oh sorry about that. Sometimes I can ramble on about stuff. Well if you change your mind just meet us at Tyler's room." Cody ended and soon the call ended. Noah sighed as he put the phone down.

"Who was it?" Duncan asked coming out of the bathroom door. "Was it Gwen?" Noah turned to him and shook his head..

"No, it was Cody." Noah replied. Eyeing the delinquent he could see that he was wearing attire that would be suited for outside, not clothes that one would normally change into when they would retire for bed.

"Oh okay." Duncan replied walking towards the door but stopping. "Hey I need you to do something for me, a favor." Duncan asked.

_A favor?_

What type of favor was he talking about?

"What sort of favor?" Noah said standing up from his bed to face Duncan. Duncan sighed.

"Look, I need someone to go to Gwen's room with me to get her to leave." Duncan admitted. "It'll only be for about 5 minutes." Duncan ended. That's when Noah got really curious about what the delinquent was trying to do.

"Why? If you want her bra or something, I'm sure Cody has one to spare." Noah smirked. Duncan just growled at the bookworm. "Fine I'll do it." Noah answered not fully knowing that the delinquent wasn't fooling around.

"Good." Duncan said as he went for the door. Noah had no idea what the delinquent was about to do, but whatever it was if it was to see Gwen Noah would go with him.

Xxx

Heather grimaced as she felt the bandage on her leg as stings of pain rushed to her pain receptors. Obviously running full sprint on such an injury wasn't the Queen Bee's smartest move but she didn't want to be trampled by a hoard of Brony's or Interns either. And even if it did sting her leg, it was good to use it to trip over Duncan and watch the delinquent fall flat on his face. Priceless.

However that wasn't the thing that Heather was chiefly concerned about the moment, no, that was the state of the game and how she should progress further in it.

Team Amazon had just escaped elimination, meaning that Heather herself had narrowly escaped departure from the competition and Owen was out of the game. It surprised Heather that Team Chris chose to oust Owen out of all people, TDI and TDA proved that he was rather well liked and in the latter season only ousted due to Courtney's lawyers and by being fired by Chris, never by a vote. Heather assumed that Alejandro most likely convinced Tyler and Duncan to vote him off, which was strange to her because she thought that Alejandro would've wanted Noah gone for sure…

Heather shook that thought out of her mind; it didn't really matter anyway at this point. Owen was never _really_ a threat anyway, in TDI he never really did anything useful in challenges and his dumb luck got him to the finale after the merge.

So with Owen gone, there were now 9 people in the game. Team Chris had: Tyler, Alejandro, Duncan and Noah while her own team the Amazons had herself, Courtney, Gwen and Cody. Finally there was Ezekiel who Heather thought that by next two episodes or so the prairie boy would lose a challenge.

_At most he'd place second next episode_ Heather thought. But sooner or later Ezekiel would come dead last in a challenge meaning, like DJ did in Jamaica; take the drop of shame for the last time. As far as Heather was concerned, Ezekiel was merely elimination fodder but that would prove to be a bit of an annoyance.

Heather had made the assumption before that after this challenge there would be no more new pre-merge challenges due to them only having 8 contestants remaining. But with Ezekiel thrown into a picture Chris would at least have to have one more pre-merger challenge maybe even two if the sadistic host decides to throw in another reward one. So if Team Amazon places last next challenge…

No! Heather thought shaking her head. She wouldn't let that happen, it just couldn't. How could Team Amazon lose when Ezekiel was a one man team? No, at the very worst Team Amazon would at least take 2nd if it came right down to it. And who knows, maybe Team Chris might screw up and send Al home next time…

"Heather, are you sure you don't want to come?" Cody asked breaking the queen bee's thoughts as he emerged from the suites bathroom.

_Cody_

Heather remembered that moments ago Cody and Tyler had organized a group to go visit Ezekiel in the hospital. Tyler had invited Alejandro and by word of mouth LeShawna, Lindsay, Eva and Paul decided to go too.

_LeShawna and Lindsay!_

"Why didn't I think of this before?" Heather whispered to herself.

"Huh?" Cody said back to her. "What did you say Heather?"

"Oh what nothing!" Heather replied realizing that Cody was still in the room. "Oh, wait, actually I changed my mine. Is it alright if I go with you to visit Ezekiel?" Heather ended. Cody raised his eyebrows for a second, surprised by the Queen Bee's sudden interest to visit the home school.

"Sure Heather, I'm sure Ezekiel would appreciate it." Cody replied happy that Heather changed her mind.

"Thanks, Cody." Heather replied smirking, a plan brewing in her mind. It amazed her that she couldn't of thought of it before.

Lindsay and LeShawna were in the building and were going to go shortly on a trip to visit Ezekiel with the majority of the participants competing on Total Drama.

Lindsay and LeShawna saw all of the episodes of Total Drama World Tour up to this point and time.

Lindsay and LeShawna knew all the things that Alejandro did.

Lindsay and LeShawna could help her expose Alejandro!

And with that plan held in the Queen Bee's mind, she and Cody walked out of the door.

Xxx

"So why exactly do you need me to pre-occupy Gwen?" Noah asked Duncan as the two teens made way down the hall to the Goth's room. Duncan turned his head to Noah and huffed.

"None of your damn business, that's why." Duncan spat back at the bookworm. Noah gave the delinquent a weird look but shrugged it off. Normally he'd be a bit mad that someone who is in an alliance was keeping secrets from him, but Noah himself was harboring a few secrets of his own about Owen's elimination that he didn't tell Duncan about yet so he let it slide.

As both of them approached the door Duncan gave it a few quick knocks and soon Gwen opened it. She was in her black night wear and looked a bit disgruntled. Noah even detected from the red stains beneath her eyes that she might've cried a little.

"Who is it?" A voice asked from behind Gwen before the three of them could say a word in. Gwen turned around quickly.

"It's Duncan, Court." Gwen replied indicating that she was talking to Courtney. As soon as Gwen said that Courtney emerged to the doorway.

"Duncan?" Courtney started. "What are yo-

"We need to talk." Duncan said firmly, cutting off the C.I.T. The delinquent moved his eyes to both the Goth and Noah as he said that. "Alone. I need to talk with Courtney, alone." Duncan ended. Noah hearing this got the message and started to walk away, motioning with his hand for Gwen to come with him.

Gwen just looked at Duncan and then at Courtney, both of whom were not giving the Goth much attention and just looking intently at each other. Gwen was especially wary of Duncan, he looked determined to do something. Something that he did not want Gwen to be there for. Gwen getting the message walked with Noah away from the C.I.T and delinquent.

Xxx

"You like MLP too?" Paul asked to Cody as they walked towards the hospital.

"Yeah!" Cody replied happily. "My friend Harold showed me the show two weeks before I came on this season and with that watched the entirety of season 1."

Heather groaned to herself as she heard Cody, Paul and Tyler talking about MLP. Ever since her and Cody met up with the whole group who was going to visit Ezekiel, the two contestants and Paul couldn't stopped talking about it.

_Why did the intern who won have to be a Brony?_

Heather sighed. In front of her she could see Alejandro walking at a much greater pace than the other 6 of them, most likely trying to get the visit to Ezekiel over as soon as possible. And too Heather's left LeShawna and Lindsay were walking beside her in tow. Now was the best chance Heather had to talk to either one of them about her plan.

"Can I talk to you two for a minute?" Heather whispered to LeShawna and Lindsay, trying to make sure the 4 boys of front could not hear them. Lindsay looked a little off at the Queen Bee's sudden question and looked at LeShawna for support. LeShawna sighed for a moment but nodded at the Queen Bee.

"Sure, Heather." LeShawna said quietly. Turning back to the main group. "I think we'll meet up with you guys a little later ya'll, got some unfinished business, to take care of." LeShawna said loudly to the main group. To their surprise, Tyler, Cody and Paul didn't seem to hear them and kept walking and talking about MLP. Alejandro did take notice though and gave them a thoughtful glance but said nothing and walked ahead.

**Confessional Cam**

**Alejandro: **What would Heather do with LeShawna and Lindsay? Look, in all actuality of the situation I am very uneasy by this. Lindsay and LeShawna are here, they watched the episodes, they know my tricks. Especially with the latter. And I fear most of all that LeShawna might expose to Tyler and the others my deeds!

**End Cam**

Heather led LeShawna and Lindsay away to a secluded area, determined to get some answers. When they got there, Heather wasted no time in the talking.

"I was right, you know." Heather started at LeShawna. LeShawna sighed knowing exactly what Heather was talking about.

"Yes, you were right about Alejandro." LeShawna said sadly, not because she was wrong but how she treated Heather overall this season. "Heather before we talk any further I have to say that I'm sorry for what happened in Germany. I messed up _big time_. And even though a lot of people when I came back congratulated me for what I did to you it was still wrong. Attacking you, attacking anyone like that, was totally uncalled for.

It's just how Alejandro manipulated me." LeShawna continued. "He did it so _well_." LeShawna trailed off for a second. "But that doesn't excuse me, sorry girl." LeShawna ended her long winded apology.

Heather, stunned by the sudden long speech just shook her head.

"LeShawna, I don't care about that. Well I do but, that's not the point I was trying to make!"

"'Point?'" LeShawna stated. "What point?"

"Look, you two obviously know about Alejandro now. Like, who he is really like now. I've been trying to tell everyone about that snake for the whole season now and no one believes me. Gwen, Courtney, no one. Probably because due to what I did in the past they don't trust me. But if I got you two to back me up, two people who are trustworthy and who've seen all of the TDWT episodes up to this point, I think we can get Al off this show for good." Heather ended her plan.

LeShawna just stood there, not knowing what to say back to the Queen Bee. She and Lindsay truly wanted to see the Arch Villain go, especially after they knew of all of the eliminations he caused. But one thing was preventing them in doing so.

"Heather, you don't know how much I want that jerk gone." LeShawna muttered. "And, Darn it, and if I was allowed to I would-

"What do you mean 'allowed to'?" Heather asked with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"Because of all of the 'drama' going on behind peoples backs Blainely made us sign a contract before coming here to do an interviews forbidding us revealing anything that the contestants don't know about yet." LeShawna sighed. "And Alejandro's true nature is one of those things."

Heather just stood there, dumbstruck. "Are you kidding me!? Why did you sign it in the first place!"

"Well I signed it because I wanted to see Tyler again." Lindsay spoke up.

"And I signed it because I wanted to make amends with you Heather." LeShawna answered. "Trust me, I hated to having to listen to Blainely. That girl is really screwing with Geoff." She added that last part under her breath. Heather noticed it but decided not to comment on it.

"Fine, at least you do have an excuse." Heather said down trot. She really thought that with this she could expose Alejandro and eliminate him for good this time…

Xxx

Not knowing where to go, Noah decided to take Gwen to the pool area of the hotel to hopefully kill sometime. As Noah was walking beside Gwen he noticed instantly that the Goth was thinking about what Duncan and Courtney were doing in their room. Noah was pretty curious himself.

Of course Noah didn't think that Duncan would be 'cheating' on Gwen by kissing Courtney or whatever but the delinquent was determined to do something involving Courtney, the book worm was for sure. It as anyone's guess what however.

As the duo approached the small black gate to the pool area, Gwen opened it with Noah following. Carefully closing it, the two went near the snack bar and both ordered a small grilled cheese sandwich. Neither was that hungry. Eyeing a small table, both of the teens went there and sat down. After a few moments of silence Gwen spoke up.

"Did you tell Duncan about Owen yet?" Gwen asked.

_Damn it!_

Noah inwardly cursed himself. He was dreading that question.

"No, and I can't say I'm looking forward to it either." Noah replied. Gwen just shook her head, her blue hair catching the moonlight that was from the sky.

"I just don't understand it Noah, how did Owen get enough votes to get eliminated." Gwen said sadly. "Even if he was voting for himself it would still only be one."

"It must've been Alejandro and Tyler." Noah concluded. "I or Duncan didn't vote for him, we voted for Alejandro. Unless Duncan lied and…. No." Noah ended shaking his head. "Duncan wouldn't do that."

_Well he did cheat on his girlfriend_

Noah almost wanted to add that last part but decided against it. Gwen just shook her head.

"I mean I can see why Alejandro would vote for Owen but why Tyler? If anyone I thought he would've voted for you."

"Same." Noah replied. "I guess _Al_'s manipulation turned Tyler against him." Noah said a hint of anger in his voice.

_Owen, LeShawna, DJ, Bridgette, he just keeps at it!_

Noah thought angrily to himself. It seems like this gambit would never work!

"It also seems that Duncan doesn't care." Gwen muttered quietly. Noah's eyebrow quirked.

"Excuse me?" Noah replied back, not really understanding what the Goth was saying. Gwen sighed before she said what she was going to say.

"Would Duncan really care about Owen?" Gwen asked in a serious tone, looking at Noah directly. "Does he really care?" Noah still not knowing how to respond just shrugged his shoulders. It seemed like this girl always took his words away.

"I'm sure he cares." Noah shrugged. "He gave him $50,000 so one would assume he would. Or Duncan just really doesn't give a shit on where he throws his money." Noah said taking another bite of his grilled cheese. Gwen gave Noah a look of confusion.

_What was he talking about?_

"When did Duncan give Owen a half of 100,000?" Gwen asked Noah. Noah shrugged.

"After Duncan won last season, he gave Owen $50,000 dollars after his parents blew all of their money on some cheese cellar. Guess he didn't want his family to be bankrupted since Chris didn't give him his money." Noah finished his explanation.

_Duncan gave Owen money?_

Gwen thought to herself, trying to process it all.

_Duncan does care._

**Confessional Cam**

**Gwen: **Look, ever since the Italy episode I had my second thoughts about Duncan. Especially about what he said about Courtney's *Coughs* outfit. He's always pushing me to tell people about us when I'm not ready too.

But he does have a heart. I don't know what's going to happen, or if kissing him was the right thing to do. I just feel better now knowing that he's a decent person, because for the past couple days I've been questioning if he's an actual good person.

**End Cam**

Noah just sat there, as Gwen thought in silence, trying to figure out what he just done. Noah deduced that with the information that he gave to Gwen about Duncan giving Owen the sum of money pushed Gwen more too Duncan.

Noah knew for a while now that Duncan and Gwen's new relationship had been very rocky. From their alliance meetings and from when Sierra found out about them, Duncan seemed that he did not care about if anyone knew that him and Gwen were dating, he even encouraged Gwen to come clean and tell everyone. Heck, the only thing that was stopping Duncan from telling everyone himself was Gwen herself.

On the one hand this was a good thing. If Gwen and Duncan were to ever break up, Noah would have no more leverage in the black mail nor any black mail at all for that matter. How could he threaten to expose a relationship if it didn't exist anymore? For the time being, Noah needed Gwen and Duncan's relationship to be at least semi-stable.

And even though it made perfect sense in terms of strategy, there was one thing that pulled Noah back on this plan.

He had a crush on Gwen. And every time he thought of Gwen kissing Duncan the bookworm would become nauseous. And he had no idea why.

Even in the darkened night, Noah still found the goth attractive. The glow of the moon bouncing off her blue highlights, made her all the more beautiful to Noah…

"Noah." Gwen said, breaking Noah's thoughts.

"Yes?" Noah said regaining his senses.

"I know it'll be hard, but we'll have to tell Duncan about the Owen thing tonight. The _whole _thing." Gwen replied. "I know it's going to be hard, but-

"I know." Noah responded. "He deserves to know the truth." He finished. The bookworm turned his head to the hotel. "But if we're going to do it we better get it done and over it. Duncan's probably stopped talking with Courtney right now so this should be the best time." Noah suggested. Gwen nodded her head and soon both of the teens went back to the snack bar and asked for boxes for each of the respective teens food that they hadn't touched. After that small event occurred, both Bookworm and Goth walked back to the hotel.

Xxx

It was by pure coincidence that the same hospital that Ezekiel was being treated at was the same one that Cody and Heather went to take the latter to get her knee bandaged. And even more coincidental that it was in very close walking distance to the Mindo Hotel, only 5 to be precise.

As the 7 visitors made way to the hospital room, Tyler went up and asked the receptionist where Ezekiel's room was.

"Ah, you mean the feral guy?" The receptionist replied. She jerked her finger to the left towards a hall way. "Go through there, and then turn left he'll be in room 9A." She replied. Tyler getting the info relayed the info to the others and soon went down the long hallway.

As Heather and the others reached the room, they saw that the door was closed and some drapes covered the small window on the door, making impossible for the group to tell what was going on inside.

"Should we knock, er something." Tyler asked scratching his head awkwardly. "I mean I don't want to disturb him if he's sleeping or something."

Suddenly as if someone was answering Tyler's own voice the door opened and revealed Chef Hatchet.

"You can come in if you want." Chef said matter a fact, distant from his usual gruff tone. "Just don't crowd him, he ain't used to large groups yet." The cook ended. Cody and Tyler both nodded and went in first to see a fairly small room with a bed that the newly feral kid was sleeping at. With Cody motioning the others to join him the others joined in the room as well.

"He's been dosed with some heavy sleep medication so he'll be out for a while." Chef Hatchet informed. "He'll probably not wake until you guys get out of the hospital." Chef said. As the black cook said this he turned his eyes on Paul and looked quizzical. "You an intern or something." Chef questioned the brony staring oddly at Paul's 'Pinkie rulz' hat.

"Yeah, it's kind of a long story." Paul chuckled. Chef nodded his head and returned his attention to Ezekiel. Heather noticed how less gruff the black cook was being with them; he was just staring at Ezekiel intently. Paul scratching his hand behind his head awkwardly whispered to Cody.

"So how'd he get like this?" Paul questioned, wanting to know what was going on.

"He was voted off in the first challenge and I he was so sad that he did he stowed away on the plane." Cody started his explanation. "After that he just hid in the Cargo Hold with no one knowing except Chris that he was on the plane."

"Wait." Paul interjected. "Your host knew he was on the plane, right? Then why didn't he try to find him and get him some help?"

"Because he's an asshole." Chef bluntly interrupted still staring at Ezekiel. Cody and Paul looked surprise by Chef's interjection but Cody nodded.

"Yeah, kind of like that. Well, after a while we had a challenge in London and Chris offered Ezekiel a deal. If he could capture all of us then he can be back in the contest. But he didn't capture Noah and Owen so Chris instead brought back Duncan and Ezekiel was eliminated in again.

We all thought he was gone but when I went back to the Cargo Hold for something I found him. I guess I felt so sorry for him that I offered him so of my food for a little while until I could talk him into getting off of the plane." Cody explained. "But then Ezekiel when we arrived in Vegas attacked Chris and Chef in the cockpit, sometime later Noah struck up a deal with Chris to let Ezekiel back in the contest so his parents wouldn't sue." Cody finished his explanation. Paul nodded his head.

"I see." The brony said staring back at the homeschooler. All the people there (minus Alejandro due to obvious reasons) felt bad for the homeschooler at this point.

Xxx

Gwen felt an uneasy feeling when she walked up with Noah to Duncan. She knew for a fact that Duncan was going to get mad about what they were going to tell him. Owen and Duncan were great friends, actually as Gwen was thinking about it more, the last person that Duncan actually liked still in the game besides herself. And to know that it was because of their relationship that Owen was most likely gone, that would upset Duncan greatly.

As both of the teens approached Courtney's room they could see Duncan emerging from it with a less than cheerful look on his face. Looking at them he sighed.

"Sorry about that, I just needed you to be out of the room for what I was doing." Duncan said. Gwen looked at the delinquent suspiciously.

"What exactly did you do?" Gwen asked. A strange fear had just hit the goth. What if Duncan was cheating on her with Courtney?

"Can I tell you when we get back to my room?" Duncan said. "I need to sit down." Gwen and Noah looked at each other but nodded at the delinquent and soon the three of them made way to the room.

Xxx

As the three teens made way to the room Noah and Gwen put away their food in the mini-freezer before returning to the couch with Duncan. As all three of them sat down, Gwen spoke up.

"Duncan we need to tell you something." Gwen said.

"No I need to." Duncan said a little down trot. "Look, Gwen, I should have did this the second after we first got together but I finally did it."

"And that is?" Noah asked. Duncan glared fiercely at Noah before he spoke again.

"I broke up with Courtney." Duncan said, his voice flat and emotionless. Gwen gasped as she heard this news and covered her hands with her mouth. Noah even had his mouth slightly a gape by the news. Trying to cover it up he snickered.

"Got a little guilty about stringing her along, eh?" Noah laughed. Duncan looked at Noah again and growled.

"No, like I told you, I could give less of a shit about what she does." Duncan said motioning to the door referencing Courtney. "That bitch deserves worse than what I did to her as far as I care." Duncan growled. Trying to control himself he took a deep breath in.

"But I did because I knew Gwen was feeling bad for her." Duncan said looking at Gwen again.

"Dunca-

"Look." Duncan said moving towards Gwen. "I get it now; you were confused about what I did because I was still with Courtney. And I calling her hot in Italy just furthered it." Duncan said again sighing. He moved closer to her from the couch and took her hand. "For whatever I did that made it seem that I'm not behind you 100% I'm sorry. Courtney and I are done now, for good." Duncan finished.

Gwen had no idea what to say. It seemed that all of her emotions were trying to talk at once. Looking at Noah for a bit and then at Duncan she bit her lip in thought but then smiled.

"Duncan that means a lot. Truthfully I had no idea what direction our relationship was headed but after what you did, I knew that took courage. Truthfully I don't know where this relationship will be heading, but I know that I can now see more clearly now because of it." Gwen ended. Duncan smiled back and pulled in Gwen for a kiss, their first kiss since they had since they kissed in the confessional.

However Noah was also seeing the two kiss and felt immediately nauseous. Just seeing Gwen kiss Duncan just made the bookworm want to vomit.

_Why do I care so much?_

Noah wondered to himself.

_Why do I have to like Gwen?_

As Gwen and Duncan parted Noah suddenly remembered why they needed to talk to Duncan in the first place.

"Duncan." Noah spoke up. "As Gwen said before we do need to tell you something." Noah finished. Duncan looked puzzled but turned his head toward Gwen.

"Is this true?" He asked with Gwen nodding her head in return. Gwen almost forgot what she was going to have to do now. And she wasn't looking forward to it.

Xxx

Because of Ezekiel not waking up, the visit was cut short due to the lack of things the TD visitors could do for the prairie boy. Chef suggested that they could go to a local pub that was just across the way from the hospital to go to that most of them all accepted except two: Cody and Heather. The former declined because Cody was quite tired after the long day and wanted to get some sleep. The latter declined because of the same reason. So that left the both of them walking back to the hotel while the others went to the pub, leaving Chef Hatchet and the doctors to watch over Ezekiel.

"How's your leg still." Cody asked as both he and Heather emerged from the hospital. Heather merely shrugged.

"Not that well, after I ran on it from those interns it's been hurting like hell again." Heather grumbled. She then smirked. "Although it was worth it seeing Duncan fall flat on his face."

"I agree that was awesome how you did that." Cody concurred chuckling back. They walked for a couple minutes before Cody spoke up again. "It's going to be weird having another Team Victory again. Seems like forever ago that DJ was eliminated causing that team to dissolve." Cody finished. Heather shrugged her shoulders.

"Hey, I tried to offer an alliance to him but he decided to trust Ale-jerk-dro instead." Heather replied. Cody nodded his head.

"Yeah, I remember. How would that alliance work? I mean if hypothetically if DJ would agree to it how would it function?" Cody asked. Heather bit her lip in thought.

"To be honest I never thought through it that far. I guess we would try to help him out in challenges so he'd get at least 2nd place." Heather shrugged. "My goal with that was to try to wipe out Alejandro's team until the merge." She explained. Cody nodded his head.

"I see." Cody replied. Trying not to have the conversation die down he said: "Not to be nosey or anything but are you going to try that same thing with Ezekiel?" Cody asked.

"I actually never even thought about that before." Heather responded. "I don't know, last time I tried to that the team lost and I was forced to shuck clams for one of Chris's stupid parties." Heather shook her head. Cody shrugged.

"Yeah, I get you. But I do want Zeke to not get eliminated again right when he comes back. He deserves to stick around for a while." Cody finished. Heather just rolled her head.

"Whatever, I still think he's basically elimination fodder. And you know that Chris is going to make it hard as crap for Ezekiel to at least take 2nd place next challenge." Heather replied. Cody smiled weakly.

"Yeah, well…" Looking that they were near the hotel he smiled. "Well here we are I guess…" Cody said approaching the hotel. "We probably should get some sleep." Cody said to Heather. She nodded and the two teens walked into the hotel.

Xxx

Duncan was completely shocked at what Gwen and Noah both told him. Completely. Shocked.

Owen was eliminated. Well that part the delinquent knew full well about. He was at the elimination ceremony. He casted his vote. He heard Chris call Owen's name as the contestant who was eliminated.

But before this moment Duncan had no idea why. Of course he didn't ponder about it for so long but still, how did Owen get eliminated.

Apparently the answer was told right before him. Back in Italy, when Trent was still on the plane he snuck into the cargo hold to call Harold on his phone to talk and ever so coincidentally Owen decided to sneak there too to find something to eat. When Owen got there he hid and listened to what Trent and Harold were talking about. And of course they were talking about Noah's Gambit!

That's when Owen heard everything. Duncan and Gwen kissing. Noah blackmailing them into an alliance. Everything.

And for some reason, he felt guilty about it! He voted himself off!

_And I thought he wouldn't even care. _

Duncan thought to himself remembering the conversation he had with Owen in Italy. Shaking his head he said.

"So Trent told you about it before we dropped him off?" Duncan asked to the Goth. Gwen nodded.

"Yeah, I was going to tell yo-

"Gwen its fine." Duncan stopped her. "You didn't have the chance to, I get that." Duncan's eyes moved to Noah. "But what I don't get is how this could have happened. Even with Owen voting for he he would still at least need 3 votes for him to be gone."

"It was Alejandro and Tyler." Noah deduced. "It had to be, why they did it I have no idea." Noah finished. Duncan nodded his head and let out an annoyed sigh.

"Damn it Owen, why'd you have to be so fuckin nice." Duncan muttered under his breath. He looked back at Noah and then at Gwen.

"Gwen, I don't want to argue or anything but this is what I've been warning you about. First Sierra goes and now Owen." Duncan shook his head. "If we keep giving into _him___we're going to keep eliminating people." He ended. "If we make ourselves public now then he'll have no leverage."

"Blame it on the brains now." Noah countered. "Look, you guys would probably be eliminated right now if someone else came in that confessional instead of me. Heather would expose you right out front, Courtney would to and make a big fit about it, Tyler would most likely crack under some pressure and tell everyone about it, Cody would be all mopey and dopey about it, Sierra would get pissed off like she did when she saw you guys in Italy and Alejandro would probably blackmail you guys harder than what I've been doing." Noah explained. "Without me Duncan, Gwen would probably been voted off the first chance Team Amazon lost if someone else saw you." Noah finished.

"Owen wouldn't." Gwen muttered underneath her breath. Duncan and Noah's heads both turned.

"What?" Noah asked.

"If Owen saw us we'd talk him out of it. Owen wouldn't care about us cheating on Courtney, and he'd just try to keep it a secret if Duncan or I would have a chance in talking him out of sacrificing himself." Gwen explained softly. Duncan was dazed for a moment but nodded his head.

"That's right." He turned to Noah. "Don't go on with this shit about how you're our 'savior' in this game. You're doing this to get ahead and just to have Alejandro out of the way. Nothing more, nothing less." Duncan ended. Noah seemed dazed at Duncan's comeback and even more so about Gwen's. Shaking his head he said:

"Look, if we keep pointing fingers at one another we can't solve anything." Noah argued.

"Probably because both of us would point it at you." Duncan said rolling his eyes.

"Regardless." Noah said with annoyance. "I do agree about what you two are talking about. We got rid of two contestants so far, two of which weren't a threat and both of which are not Alejandro. So Duncan, I would like to suggest that we both try to sabotage our team for the next challenge."

"What!" Duncan yelled.

"If we sabotage our team to be in 3rd then it we'll most likely face an elimination ceremony, unless Chris pulls another reward challenge on us which I doubt because he probably wants Ezekiel off the plane as soon as possible. Then we just have to vote for Alejandro and he'll have two votes." Noah explained.

"And what if Al and Tyler vote both for one of us so it'll be a tie?" Duncan asks. "Besides-'He starts turning to Gwen. "Maybe Gwen wants us to go public now that I've broken up with Courtney." Duncan asks. Gwen looked a little dazed and annoyed by Duncan's sudden question.

"No Duncan. I appreciate how you've legit mentally ended things with Courtney but I still think we should keep ourselves a secret." Gwen explained. Duncan growled in annoyance but rolled his eyes.

"Fine." He muttered. He turned back to Noah. "But like I said before then It'll be a tie."

"I've already accounted for that but I'm willing to take that risk." Noah spoke. "Alejandro has been a threat for much too long, even with my vote that I've secured with you. We have to eliminate him now. And when I do I'll lessen the blackmail I have on you two." Noah said. Duncan seemed to smirk at Noah's explanation.

"And if it is a tiebreaker and you lose it, at least you'll be out of our hair. It'll be a win either way." Duncan snickered. Noah chuckled.

"I had a feeling you would say something like that, alright. Gwen-' he paused and looked over to her. "Do you feel okay about this?" Noah asked her. Gwen sighed but shook her head.

"Yes, I do. Like you said when Alejandro is gone you'll lessen the blackmail." Gwen answered. She hoped that after Noah's plan to get rid of Alejandro is gone she can clear her mind and focus on if she wanted her relationship with Duncan to go public or not.

"Good." Duncan said. He turned to Gwen and gave her a peck on the cheek. "As much as I love you hanging around you should go back to Courtney so it dosen't look suspicious. She's probably crying her eyes out right about now." He said. Gwen nodded her head.

"You're right." Gwen said standing up. After saying a goodbye to Noah she walked out of the door to Courtney's room. As Duncan went back to the bathroom to get ready for bed Noah let out a long sigh. 

_What am I doing?_

He thought. He was blackmailing Gwen. Blackmailing his crush. And for some reason Noah had a compelling feeling to vote for Duncan at the next elimination ceremony. It seemed that his emotional side and strategic side were at war with each other now. Strategically he needed Duncan and Gwen to still be together but damn it, it made him sick just thinking about it.

He looked at the bathroom door darkly but shook the feeling away. As the bookworm went back to his bed he turned off his lamp, listening to the shower that Duncan was taking.

_Gwen_

Noah thought, before he drifted off in peaceful slumber.

Xxx

Like Chris said, it was a full 4 days before Ezekiel recovered. They weren't an exciting batch of four days but for Ezekiel it was one of the most important of his life. His therapy sessions and medicine that the hospital provided plus frequent visits from most of the Total Drama cast caused him to recover with relative ease. Chef Hatchet never left Ezekiel's side through the whole recovery process, still feeling guilty about the whole ordeal. Alternatively Chris Mclean never visited him once, and was even complaining how long Ezekiel was staying at the hospital, racking up a hospital bill that he needed to pay for.

Word from the grapevine also passed quickly about how Duncan broke up with Courtney. Of course Courtney tried to cover up that she was sad and hurt about it but a lot of people caught on very quickly that she was. Alejandro hearing it assumed it was from him telling Courtney lies about what Duncan was saying to her and assumed thus. No one except Chris, Chef, Duncan, Gwen and Noah knew the actual reasoning of the breakup.

So now, it was 12:00 noon and the Jumbo Jet was now leaving the airport, with new arrivals of Ezekiel and Pau and LeShawna, Lindsay and Eva that will be on the plane until it stops at Canada to drop them off. With Team Amazon in first class and Ezekiel and the rest of Team Chris in losers.

But now Noah had a plan, and hopefully this plan will finally fid Alejandro from this game forever. Looking out the window he remembered Owen and made a silent promise to get rid of Alejandro in his honor.

But most importantly, he'd keep Gwen in the game.

**A/N- Well how do you like it! Because I frankly have very mixed feelings about it. I felt that the Cody and Heather parts were somewhat filler and the ending was rushed. Plus Gwuncan is hard to write for me so I apologize if it's a bit sloppy. But I can't just have Gwen immediately be attracted to Noah can't I? Then it would be like Scottney from TDAS and well… I'm not fond of TDAS. **

**And I know for a fact that the majority of the people reading this story don't like Gwuncan. But it needs to be done for more Gwoah awesomeness to happen later :D**

**Another thing I will like to say that I have a BIG PLANS for what the next couple locations will be. One location I have an idea for but not sure if I should have it next or the one after that I'm especially looking forward too. However I will give you a hint about the next location.**

"**Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try." **

**So if anyone can guess where that quote is from then you can guess where one of the next locations will be!**

**I also want to talk about a couple new story ideas that I have. **

**One is a TDAS story focusing on Mal and Zoey but making it way darker. And I mean way darker. I already have begun working on the first chapter.**

**Another is a TDPI finale story focusing on Shawn and Sky being trapped in a cave and trying to get out. I want to write this for two reasons. One: the finale in TDPI was horrible and I want to redeem characters like Sky and Dave who were nerved by it. Second: I really like Shawn and have a burning desire to write a oneshot about him. He's probably now my 2****nd**** favorite contestant next to Ezekiel, maybe even tied. No joke. **

**But because of this the next Noah's Gambit chapter won't be coming for a little while longer then the others. Just giving that a heads up. **

**So if any of you have any suggestions for either of this story's please PM me.**

**Anywho, please review and have a great day!**

**-ewisko**


	10. Ye Ole Irish Gambit Part 1

**A/N: Well guys this is it. I will warn you that this is kind of a setup for the chapter to come, but it's still interesting none the less. I will warn you that Ezekiel and Cody are very prominent in this chapter due to two reasons. 1. Ezekiel just got here so I want him to get development (Plus he's my favorite TD character of all time) and 2. I want to develop Codeather more. Noah and Gwen while still play a good role here, will essentially DOMINATE the next chapter I have planned. And I will also like to add that from here on out, Gwuncan scenes will be fewer and more far between. My dearest apologies to the 1 Gwuncan fan reading this Gwoah story XD**

**Anyway, enough of me jabbering, let's start the show.**

A loud crash of lightning caused a small, but still powerful noise outside the Total Drama Jumbo Jet, few contestants could see the brief bolt. This was part of a rather strong storm that was happening in the Atlantic, and while not promoted to a strong enough storm to prompt an immediate landing, many airlines and countries around the area had advised all people flying on their own to do not so. Many of the airlines heeded this advice and shut down the airports that had to make way above the Atlantic, and would wait until the storm subsided before any airplanes could leave.

Even the network, called Chris McLain and strongly advised him to just land at Arlen Texas [1] and wait there before they made way towards the next challenge. The host scoffed at this however, saying that the storm would complement the challenge he had planned at the designated country and disregarded the networks request, again carrying about money and his own needs, before the safety of the contestants and crew. Chef Hatchet was especially angered by this, still harboring guilt that he let Ezekiel lay to essentially rot in the Cargo Hold; due to Chris having convinced him it would be a good subplot for his precious ratings.

Chef Hatchet, thinking this casted a cursory glance through his curtains to the cargo hold and saw the now reformed feral home schooled. From what he saw, Ezekiel's recovery went tremendously well, as he looked more or less back to his prior feral state. As Chef returned back to fly, Ezekiel twiddling his thumbs, stared out the window. Seeing the black stormy clouds next to them made him uneasy. He still wasn't quite used to open spaces yet, or loud noises for that matter. He shook his head and moved his head slightly to face the other team.

Prior to Total Drama World Tour, Ezekiel had very little interactions with the current members of Team Chris is really, really, really, really hot for the most part. Izzy, someone who Ezekiel regarded as his best friend, was currently not on the team anymore, and both Alejandro and Duncan were two that Ezekiel had very little, or relative neutral opinion on. For Ezekiel Alejandro was kind of nice to him, he visited him with Cody and the others and he did remember him helping himself and Tyler up during the first episode of World Tour. But other than that Ezekiel had little to no interaction with Alejandro and same towards Duncan.

As for Noah, Ezekiel still knew him better than Alejandro and Duncan but not by much. However he did recall on the bus ride to the airport for the first episode of World Tour Ezekiel did have a pleasant conversation with him and Cody.

However, Ezekiel did have a very different opinion on Tyler than the rest of the contestants from Team Chris. After his early elimination in Total Drama Island, Tyler was the only person that Ezekiel got a chance to talk to on the Playa. Justin and Katie were always hanging out together, Noah was a bit of a loner for most of the time, and Eva still wanted to kill Ezekiel for making his sexist comments. The homeschooler smiled for a bit.

At least I knoo' one person from the other team.

Ezekiel thought to himself, soon however the homeschool began to feel that he needed to go to the restroom. Shrugging he got up, and walked off, not aware that the current Team Chris was actually talking about him.

"I'm telling you guys, we should offer Zeke to be in an alliance with us." Tyler explained. "With him on our side, we'll crush the Amazons!"

"I do get where you're coming from amigo-'Alejandro started. "But I must remind you that the last time our team tried that tactic before it failed."

"Yeah but that was cause DJ wanted to quit anyway." Tyler replied. "But I'm sure Zeke wants to win like all of us so I'm sure he'll be happy to join in!"

"Can you stop shouting!" Noah snapped, peeking up from his book. He was next to Tyler's left. "We're all right next to each other; you don't have to scream to us what you're saying."

"Oh, sorry man." Tyler apologized. "It's just when I get really excited about something I sort of just yell it out."

"It seems to me that you're a bit too excited about Zeke back." Duncan said obviously agitated like Noah. Suddenly he smirked. "Sounds like you're gay for him."

"I'm not gay!" Tyler shouted loudly again.

"Loud!" Noah angrily reminded Tyler. "Seriously, you're probably going to get my left ear deaf if you keep this up."

"But I'm not gay!" Tyler yelled again.

"Yes, you already informed us of that." Noah said voice with great annoyance. "And to be perfectly honest, I can give less of a shit what your sexual orientation is."

"Even if it's gay." Duncan snickered.

"But I'm not GAY!"

Noah's eyes suddenly turned towards Duncan's. Duncan seemed to smile again. "What?"

"Stop calling Tyler gay." Noah said annoyingly. "He's just going to keep yelling about the whole trip to wherever we're going if you keep it up. And besides, gay jokes? Aside from fart jokes and fat jokes, those are probably the lowest form of comedy on the planet."

"I must agree with Noah." Alejandro chimed in. "Putting down someone because of sexual orientation is not only very offensive but very un-funny." Noah seemed to give Alejandro a strange look while Duncan rolled his eyes.

"Fine."

Confessional Cams

Duncan: Okay, in hindsight, that wasn't one of my best moments. *He smirks* I just feel so happy right now. I got Courtney off my back and now can just take Gwen to the finals hopefully and get another million in the bank.

Noah: Did I ever say that Duncan is one of the stupidest people on the planet, because if I did it deserves to be restated. Duncan is one of the stupidest people on the planet. *He rolls his eyes* though what's throwing me off is what Alejandro said about it. *He shrugs* probably just trying to gain my trust, whatever, I know what type of person he really is.

Tyler: I'M NOT GAY!

Alejandro: I admit it was a tad funny seeing Tyler's reactions for the accusations of him being a homosexual. But I do have to agree with Noah it was in very bad taste. Normally because I have Tyler's complete trust I would have just let it slide and watch but I do have to make it very visible to Duncan and Tyler both that I'm at least trying to become Noah's friend. Even though I'm not, I still worry about him exposing me to the others about my true nature, mainly to Duncan.

Tyler: *Holds up a picture of Lindsay* See! Guy has his super-hot and real girlfriend's photo in his hands totally proves that he's not gay.

Noah: Speaking of Tyler, for throwing the next challenge I do think he will be at least somewhat useful, with his clumsiness and all. My plan is to give Tyler a huge important part in today's challenge and hopefully he cracks under pressure because of it, or messes up big time. *He looks in the camera directly for a moment*

Look, Alejandro has Tyler in the palm of his hand. Neither I nor Duncan can convince him of Alejandro's true nature at this point, I see that now. Plus I can already tell that Tyler just goes along of whatever Alejandro votes eliminating Tyler will weaken Alejandro. Of course though once Alejandro is gone than I care less what Tyler does…. *Sighs* or what sexual orientation he is.

Tyler: Lindsay, can you tell everyone at the resort, I'm not gay. You probably know that better than anyone being we're together and all.

Xxx

Ezekiel gently pushed open the door, and got out of it, making sure that he zipped up his zipper. Scratching his head for a brief moment he thought he heard a slight noise from the door to the cargo hold. Ezekiel, his left eyebrow rising due to him wondering what was going on, deduced that he should check out the door and see what was happening.

Going inside the cargo hold brought Ezekiel a feeling of familiarity. It had been his home ever since he got voted off TDWT first. As the familiarity subsided, Ezekiel turned and noticed a figure, in a sitting position in the distance. The figure also looked like he was sleeping. Ezekiel, curious, went up to the figure and he discovered that it was a person that he had met before.

"Cody?" Ezekiel asked the tech geek.

"Gah!" Cody woke up, startled darting his eyes around. He turned his head up to see that Ezekiel was above him. "Uh, hi Zeke." Cody stuttered as he started to stand up, obviously nervous about something. "What brings you to the cargo hold?"

"Well, uh, I joost heard a sound cooming from here and I was ,er, curious." Ezekiel replied. "But a, whoot were you doing sleeping in here?"

"It's kind of a long story." Cody sighed. He also blushed. "Embarrassing too, I guess."

"Oh." Ezekiel said, not knowing what to say after. "Soory that I brought it up then."

"No it's cool." Cody shook his head. "Actually the embarrassing part isn't really about me but another person."

"Okay." Ezekiel answered again. "I mean if yoo' want to tell it to me, than maybe I can help oor something." Ezekiel offered. Cody smiled.

"Really?"

"Well I can try at least." Ezekiel shrugged. "I'm noot that gooo'd at this sort oof thing."

"Okay, I'll tell you." Cody answered. He was surprised that Ezekiel wanted to help him but was relived that he offered as Cody began to recount his tale.

Xxx

_It was about 11:00 when both alarms clocks woke both Cody and Heather awake. It was their last day in the Mindo hotel due to Ezekiel now being fully recovered to compete thereby having them to have an hour to get ready before they took the limo with the other competitors to the airport where the Jumbo Jet was to go to the next challenge. _

_Cody himself had gotten ready with relative ease, only taking about 3-5 minutes but Heather (understandable) took a much longer period of time than him. Cody not knowing if he should leave or not just waited for Heather who was in the bathroom at the time. Suddenly the tech geek heard a knock at the door. Going to the door he opened it revealing Courtney and Gwen._

"_Are you two ready yet?" Courtney asked rather annoyed. Cody nervously shook his head._

"_No, sorry not yet." His brow furrowed. "Wait, isn't the limo picking us all up at 12? It's 11:30 now, we still have plenty of time."_

"_Chris told us that we have to leave a little sooner than expected." Courtney informed. "Just make sure Heather gets ready in the 5 minutes since you're obviously ready." Her tone was both snippy and annoyed. Cody shrugged._

"_Sure I'll let her know I guess." Cody said and soon the C.I.T and Goth were off. Cody sighed as he closed the door. As he told Noah a while before, Cody was still harboring an intense dislike for Courtney and her bossing him around wasn't helping it. She also made it hard for Cody to talk to Gwen due to her hanging around with Courtney. _

_As Cody thought of these thoughts his mind was solely focused on them, forgetting proper social protocol as he went to the bathroom and opened the door._

"_Heather, Courtney wants to- GAH!" The geek yelped that last part unexpectedly on what he saw. Like he expected, Cody was looking at Heather but he looking at the Queen Bee in a different form. _

_Heather had no shirt on._

_Likewise, she had no bra on either._

_Heather was bare chested. _

_What the next few seconds came was ones that felt like many minutes for Cody as his eyes were glued to the Queen Bee, totally forgetting everything and anything around him. _

"_Cody, what the hell!" Heather yelled, covering her arms around her chest. This helped to snap Cody out of his mystifying trance. _

"_Crap, sorry Heather!" Cody's voice cracked as he ran out of the bathroom closing the door. "I-I'll be in the lobby!" He yelled again to her running out the door._

Xxx

"And then I just pretty much avoided her in the limo ride and have been just staying here the whole plane ride." Cody ended. Ezekiel looked dumbfounded and blushed a little too, now imagining the Queen Bee as how Cody told.

"Wow, that's, wow." Ezekiel blinked. "Sorry aboot that Cody, that's must've been rough." Cody shrugged.

"Yeah, I just don't know how to handle it." He stopped. "I mean, I feel really uncomfortable talking to Courtney and because Gwen is basically always with her I've haven't been talking to her much either. Heather's the only person after Sierra was eliminated that talks to me now, and not in a stalkers way like Sierra did. And well, because people already think that I'm kind of a pervert, I just don't want to lose the only person who's been sort of friendish to me on my team." Cody explained. Ezekiel was about to reply but suddenly the door to the cargo hold swung open and Cody darted back to his hiding place. Ezekiel confused turned around and saw why Cody darted back.

"Heather?" Ezekiel questioned as the Queen Bee approached the Homeschooler. "What are you doing here?"

"None of your business!" Heather snapped to him as she looked around briefly. "I mean, have you seen Cody anywhere?"

"Cody?" Ezekiel blinked. Heather frowned.

"You know, brown hair, short." Heather spoke. She grew annoyed. "Well!?"

"No!" Ezekiel lied, holding up his hands in defense. "I-I haven't seen Cody." Heather's eyebrows rose.

"Then how come I heard you talking to someone in here?" Heather questioned. Ezekiel gulped.

"Um, talking?"

"Yes, talking! When I was walking down the hallway I thought I heard you and someone that sounded like Cody talking in here!" Heather angrily informed. Ezekiel tugged at his collar.

"No, I mean yes, I mean, I was talking but I was." Ezekiel struggled to think of a good lie. "Talking to Noah."

"Noah?"

"Yep, he just left before you came." Ezekiel said. Heather's eyebrows rose and sighed. She could see the tips of brown hair from a barrel as she did so. Ezekiel was a terrible liar, and Cody was terrible at hiding.

"Okay." Heather gave in. "Just if you see him, tell him I want to talk to him about something." She ended and soon the Queen Bee walked out of the door. As soon as the coast was clear the tech geek emerged.

"Thanks for saving my butt Zeke." Cody thanked. "I just don't want to face her so soon."

"I understand." Ezekiel replied.

ATTENTION COMPETITORS! COME TO THE COMMON AREA TO PREPARE FOR OUR NEXT CHALLENGE!

The siren blared with Chris's name. With Chris's loud reminder in mind, the two competitors returned to their respective teams.

Xxx

As the plane landed and the contestants got out, many could see that where they landed was far different than the storm they had to endure to get this far. Gone were the black storm clouds and loud noises of thunder, now their were the glowing sun and fields of green. Noah took a second to inspect these surroundings, before Chris motioned the other competitors to come near where he was standing.

"Allright, we have just landed in-

"Ireland." Noah finished the host sentence.

"What?" The host said confused, almost doing a double take. "How did you know that?"

Instead of answering the bookworm simply pointed to the shirt that the host was wearing, it was rather different from the host's usual shirt and on it were a several four leafs clovers and leprechauns dancing around the them. It actually looked quite childish that the host was wearing a shirt like this.

"Where did you get that?" Tyler chuckled.

"None of your guys' business." The host frowned. "Anyway, Noah is right we have landed in Ireland which is where your challenge will be." Suddenly the host snapped his fingers and soon Paul was soon seen out of the plane pushing along a cart which had a T.V on it. Pushing it to near the host he turned it on.

"Now because Ireland does have some cool castles this challenge is going to be one of mediaeval nature." Chris started. Jerking his thumb to the T.V, Paul pushed a button on it and soon the device showed a bird's eye view of where they were at. "This place is somewhere the network rented for the day where you guys are going to be competing at and it contains four castles." The image changed to a rather large castle with red flags, a slightly smaller one with blue flags, and finally a tiny house with one simple yellow flag on it."

"Now because last challenge was so boring, I've decided to have this one be super jammed packed with action, hence you three will be doing an epic three way game of capture the flag!"

The host expected to get some sort of excitement from the contestants but all he got was nothing. "What no enthusiasm."

"Just get to the explaining part already." Heather snapped. Chris shrugged.

"Fine, jeez just trying to liven things up around here. Whatever, here are the rules." He pulled out a small red flag that would be commonly used in flag football. "Each team is going to have a team colors, Amazons are red, Team me is blue and Zeke is yellow. Players will have flags that will be attached to their pants. There will be three team sides. The team side is marked with flags of whoever you guys team is and someone from another team cannot tag you there. To tag a person out you simply pull out there flags sticking out of their pants. The objective of the game is to get all of the flags-" The T.V changed where it showed three types of large, almost country sized flags of Yellow, Red and Blue, to your team flags.

"There will also be a neutral area-" The T.V changed to a small tower in the middle of the field. "Where you can find supplies and what not aid you like bebe guns, and some small explosives. The neutral area is also the place where you can get out anyone from any team. Once someone is out they have to go to each teams jail which is located in each respective castle and they can only be freed if someone goes to the jail and tags them out where they'll get a free walk back to the neutral side." Chris ended. "All right any questions?"

Tyler, Ezekiel and a few others raised their hands. Chris smirked. "Good since they're none I can now explain the twist."

"Twist?" Courtney asked, in an agitated tone. The host smiled. "Yup! There are actually going to be four team's playing opposed the three."

"Who's going to be the fourth team then?" Tyler asked. Chris smirked and jerked his hand to Paul. "The interns."

"Because of..." Noah asked.

"Because their union was bugging the crap out of me so I striked a deal with them. If the Intern is the winning team in the game all of them will have a vacation to our next destination and it will be the contestants who have to wait on them hand and foot."

"That'll be nice." Paul muttered to himself imagining it. Chris smiled. "Yep! So I'll give you guys head start to go to your castles now, but first."

A familiar chime was heard that all of the contestants groaned at.

"Seriously?" Heather groaned.

"Hey, Eva was supposed to make you guys sing last challenge but she didn't. So to compensate for that this episode we're going to have more singing than usual. And anyone who doesn't sing will be kicked off." Chris reminded. "And go!"

Soon all of the teams scattered to their bases, all while trying to think of a song. As Ezekiel was running he could remember something Paul was showing him at when he was at the hospital when he was recovering and thought that he could change the words to make it make sense.

_Back in this game I am too play, don't know how long to stay_

_My teamates are gone but I'm gonna play and hopefully save my self again_

_The others might be fierce and their numbers strong and look at me now just a lowly underdog_

_The fates have woorked against me, when I came on here_

_And probably today I'll be sent back again_

_A look of sudden determination crossed Ezekiel's face._

_But I'll at least try._

_Noah and the other members of team Chris were running towards their castle too._

_Come on amigo's, quick, quick, quick, can't rest for a minute or we'll be sick Alejandro started_

_I'll still be sick if we win, fore someone's holding me in my place Duncan sang directing that statement at Noah_

_If I did nothing when I saw than you and your chick would've fell Noah countered keeping in song. Tyler sensed some bickering betwen Noah and Duncan._

_Come on guys we're in we're in the zone. _

_We'll beat those chicks and send them home_

_And even if our luck runs dry well than_

_He paused._

_We'll at least try_

_Team Amazons was too runing towards their castle_

_Running too slow, gotta keep the pace Courtney sang, directing her lyrics at Cody._

_Sorry, doing my best to not make mistakes Cody answered_

_Someone's mad about a boy Heather smirked. Courtney fumed._

_I could care less what happened then Courtney sang. Cody sighed._

_It seems my teamates are at their throats_

_And we need to get over the moat Gwen replied lyricly pointing at the moat with the bridge that they have to cross to get to the castle_

_But I promise I'll still win this game and prove myself and won't be a shame_

_And if I still fall of that lofty goal, well then_

_He paused _

_I'll at least try_

Ezekiel was now fairly close to his castle and to his dismay it was very small and looked more like a very smallhouse than anything.

_Oh no, I doon't know what to do, the other's are gonna come real soon._

He entered and looked around

_The house is small and walls may fall_

_The stairs look like they're not going to make and the windows oh lord they're broken._

_He stared at his yellow flag._

_But I'll make sure they doon't get this thing and try to knock them off if it comes_

_I may be outnumbered and gonna die but hey,_

_I'll at least try._

Xxx

When Noah and the members of his team finally arrived to their castle they could see that it didn't contain much. Just a medium sized room, some stairs to the roof another room for the jail. And unfortunately for Noah, Alejandro was already making plans on how they could win, and Tyler was still trying to pitch his idea for making an alliance with Ezekiel.

"Come on guys." Tyler said. "I say we go to Zeke to join our side and then we can totally beat the other team."

"You know what?" Alejandro smiled. "Go for it amigo."

"What?" Both the bookworm and the jock said in unison. Alejandro shrugged.

"Look, having Ezekiel as an ally even though I struggle to see the benefits I see no negatives. If Tyler goes on his own to offer an alliance to Ezekiel he may do so." Alejandro said as he turned to Tyler. "But amigo, this is just a brief challenge alliance, not a total game alliance, do you understand?"

"Yeah!" Tyler pumped his arms up as he bolted out the door. Alejandro smirked

**Confessional Cam**

**Alejandro: I see this in both ways, one Tyler helps us with Ezekiel's aid or two, the jock messes up and gives us a reason to vote him off. Tyler's use is decreasing very greatly as the pre-merger comes to a close to the actual merge. **

**Noah: I know Alejandro is up to something with Tyler, he's either betting on Tyler messing up giving us pretext to vote for him or to cover his ass if we lose or hoping that Ezekiel actually helps us so we can win. *Sighs* I have to make sure that Tyler messes up. **

**Tyler: It's weird, I feel like some people are talking about me.**

**End Confessional**

Alejandro offered to be the first one to guard the flag prompting Noah and Duncan to be the first ones to go on the attack. As they ran Duncan seemed overall happy which gave Noah a weird feeling. He never saw him that elated.

"Why are you so happy?" Noah asked as they jogged to center. Duncan smirked.

"None of your business, just happy that some things got sorted out is all." He replied. Duncan seemed to nod his head. Noah seemed to roll his eyes.

"I guess your glad that Courtney's off your back." He said offhandedly.

"Yeah, glad that she's finally off my ass." Duncan replied. "Finally, I can just be with Gwen." Noah heard that last part muttered. Noah seemed to flinch at hearing that, thinking about Duncan and Gwen... kissing, making out, made him want to throw up. It also make him hate Duncan even more.

"There it is!" Duncan said pointing to the tower. Noah saw that Duncan was corrected and saw the fairly tall gray tower. As Duncan and Noah ran towards it further they could see Gwen and Courtney run to the left to the tower as well.

"Well, well, well." Duncan started to say as they ran towards Courtney and Gwen. Courtney frowned.

"Back off." She threatened stopping. Both four teens stopped at the entrance at the tower. "Let us get the stuff in there."

"And what if we refuse." Duncan said taking a step closer. Courtney glared even harder.

"THIS!" She said, and soon gave a swift kick to Duncan's testacles s causing him to cry out in pain and fell to the ground. Courtney than ran inside with Gwen, not even casting a glance at Noah. Noah just stared there not knowing what to do next, and surely not wanting to have the same thing happen to Duncan happen to him.

"Stop them." Duncan grunted from the ground. Noah shook his head.

"Remember the plan, let them win." Noah reminded him hoarsely to the ground. Duncan growled.

"Fine just-" Suddenly before Duncan could finish his sentence two people that both Noah and Duncan couldn't recognize. Before Noah or Duncan could they one ran behind Noah and pulled his flag while the other fliped Duncan over and pulled out is.

"What the hell!" Duncan yelped as he turned to see the two figures. Noah finally recognized the figure two.

"Paul?" He said. The brony nodded.

"Sorry Noah, but the interns are going to win this!" Paul shouted as he pumped his fist in the air. "Good work Billy." Paul congratulated.

"Thanks man." Billy the intern replied back. "But we have to still take those two Amazon girls flags. If we knock out half of Team Chris's and the Amazons will have this game in the bag for sure!" Paul nodded his head as he charged into the tower, while Noah and Duncan just sat there, utterly confused.

Xxx

Ezekiel peeked out of his window, not really sure what to do. His castle (if one could call it that) was incredible small and he had no idea how he could defend it, or keep any prisoners if he so even captured anyone. Not like he had any capability to do so. Ezekiel didn't want to take any chance to leave because of he was the only one on his one man team who could guard the flag and. He could only play on the defensive side, and hopefully he'd at least place second to escape for elimination.

That was his plan, play for second.

"Hey, Ezekiel!" Ezekiel heard a voice from beyond the doorway. A voice who he recognized.

"Tyler?" He asked in slight confusion.

"Yeah, bro." The jock answered. "Can you open the door, I promise I won't take your flag man." Ezekiel thought about what he was going to do for a moment. He had a brief hesitation of whether to open the door or not. He liked Tyler and didn't think he would deceive him, but this was a challenge and he had no idea if Tyler was just by himself or with people like Alejandro or Duncan. Throwing those fears aside he decided to let Tyler in.

"Thanks man." Tyler said as he got inside the structure.

"Noo problem, Tyler." Ezekiel replied. "Soo what did yoo' want me too see me aboot?" He asked nervously.

"Well I and my team were thinking if we were to make a sort of pact for today's challenge."

"A pact?" Ezekiel asked, confused on what exactly what Tyler meant.

"Yeah, man." Tyler replied. "Basically, my team will help you out and you can help us out. Like not taking each other flags and stuff."

"Ooh." Ezekiel said, scratching his head. He was rather surprised and unsure about what the jock was proposing. He was never in an alliance before, and he didn't exactly know how it worked. But then again, Ezekiel did trust Tyler greatly and valued him as a great friend. He knows what he is talking about. "All right, Tyler I'm in."

"Great!" Tyler jumped up. "This is great man, soon will knock out the Amazons and the other interns no sweat." He looked to the door. "I guess I should get going now though." He turned to Ezekiel. "I guess you can't come with me because you're only by yourself and can't leave your flag unattended. Man, that's so lame of Chris to put you all by yourself it would be seriously awesome if you were on Team Chris with me." Suddenly he snapped his fingers. "I have an idea, maybe we can like, do some sort of technicality thing."

"Technicality thing?" Ezekiel asked now more confused than ever.

"Well let's see." Tyler took out a spare marker that he had handy (Don't ask why he had it, just role with it) and started to draw on Ezekiel's table. "Chris said that when the flag is in the other team's castle they have it. So all we can do is just take your flag and put it really near my team castle so we can also guard yours. That way you don't have to be stuck here, and you can take second place." Tyler explained.

"Oh." Ezekiel said, still slightly confused but understanding a little better now. Ezekiel remembered a couple months ago when Total Drama Action was being aired that Courtney was doing a lot of lawyer stuff to get on the show and Izzy was complaining to him that she got on through a bunch of technical stuff. Ezekiel assumed that what Tyler was saying was a little like what Courtney did. "All right, Tyler let's do it."

"Great!" Tyler said clasping his hands together while Ezekiel grabbed his flag. "Let's roll." And soon the two teens sprinted out back to Team Chris's castle.

Xxx

Noah sighed as he stared across the room where Duncan and he were being lodged at for being in jail. In a strategic perspective, everything was going according to plan for Noah. Two members of his team, Duncan and himself, had just been knocked out of the game leaving only Alejandro and Tyler to pick up the slack, both of whom Noah doubted even knew about Duncan and he's capture. And the only way he or Duncan could go back in the game is if Al or Tyler freed them from jail, and Noah had a feeling this wouldn't be happening anytime soon.

His team would lose, and with his and Duncan's vote hopefully they would be rid of Alejandro.

Permanently.

"How long do we have to wait here?" Duncan said, kicking a stray soda can that was left on the ground of the room.

"Until our team loses hopefully." Noah answered taking a seat to the ground, slightly wincing due to the dust and whatnot that was on it.

"Damn it." Duncan swore. "That means loser class again."

"Better than having Al still here." Noah replied. Duncan just shrugged at that, and Noah felt that Duncan really did not care about Alejandro or not. For some reason, Noah got a brief surge of anger about how not caring about Alejandro, Duncan was being. Not classifying the Arch Villain as a threat or an overall terrible human being at all.

"He got rid of DJ you know." Noah muttered quietly. Duncan turned his head to him.

"What did you say?" Duncan asked. Noah got a little startled, he didn't think Duncan would hear his whisper.

"Alejandro, he got rid of DJ." Noah said again. Duncan gave Noah a weird look, surprised that the bookworm would bring that information without prompt and Duncan didn't even know the details of DJ's elimination prior to this, anyone's for that matter save for Sierra's and more or less Owen's.

"Okay." Duncan replied not knowing what to say to that. Noah simply shrugged but also felt odd at Duncan's remark. Through the grapevines, he heard that Duncan and DJ were great friends on Total Drama, best friends even. And yet Duncan still sounded so uncaring.

Now another thought occurred into the bookworm's mind through this.

If Duncan didn't care about DJ in anyway, would he care if Gwen got eliminated, or care about Gwen at all for that matter? Did Duncan really just see Gwen as a hot piece of ass who he wanted to get after Courtney bored him?

These thoughts in his head cemented the egghead's dislike for the delinquent even more.

"We got two more Willy!" Noah's attention suddenly turned to another intern that burst into the castle. He could not see him, but he could hear him more or less.

"Great!" Another intern, who Noah assumed name was Willy, replied. "Put them in with the other two." Suddenly the door to the Duncan and Noah's holding room swung open and an intern led Courtney and Gwen into the room.

"Sorry girls, but Chris hasn't given us a break during the whole season and I really want a vacation." Willy said as he closed the door. His eyes glanced to Duncan and Noah for a moment before he closed the door. Courtney seemed to be glaring at both Noah and Duncan as she met their eyes while Gwen looked uneasy.

"Well, well, well." Duncan chuckled. "I guess someone got their karma of kicking me earlier today." He remarked obviously directing that to Courtney. The C.I.T glared at Duncan.

"Shut up." She said taking a seat on the floor. Noah detected that the C.I.T seemed uneasy. Shrugging he decided to see if both of the girls knew anything about what happened after they both got captured. However, there was a small part of him just wanted to find a conversation starter so he could talk to Gwen again.

"So, did anything change since we've last been in here?" Noah asked, directing his comment at the two Amazon teammates. To Noah's surprised happiness, Gwen was the first to speak up.

"Apparently your team's alliance with Ezekiel worked." She started. "When Courtney and I were trying to get away from Paul and the others, Tyler and Ezekiel swooped in and took all of the good gear from the tower." Gwen said. "Odd considering I had a feeling that your team would be losing today."

Noah's eyes widened as he slapped his face. Apparently the unthinkable occurred.

Tyler was actually capable this challenge. And more than that his plan with Ezekiel was actually working, a lot even, in his teams favor.

And in the one challenge that Noah didn't want him to.

"Why are you annoyed?" Courtney asked to Noah. "Your team is winning."

"And when did I indicate that I was." Noah lied, trying not to show any disappointment. Of all the people he didn't want to find out about the gambit, Courtney was about the one he didn't want to find out the most, save for Alejandro for more than obvious reasons. "I'm actually quite dumbfounded that Tyler didn't actually mess up for once." He ended his lie. Courtney gave Noah a weird look but dropped the subject.

As Noah regained complete composure again he glanced at Gwen again, and the Goth did look rather ruffled. Those interns could be real tough.

As more awkward juices stirred, all of the teens weren't eager to make conversations especially for Courtney, some noise could be heard from the other room. A familiar chime.

This seems like a good time for another song

The contestants heard Chris from a speaker that no one noticed until now say.

"Really?" Duncan complained.

**That or you could lose out on a million bucks.**

The host answered back and soon his voice was no more.

Not really knowing what to do Gwen decided to at least do some sort of reprise from the song from earlier

Even though we're trapped in here and someone's promise was not fulfilled.

Gwen started indicating it to Noah, who promised that his team would lose today.

_I'm going to wait and hope that both Cody or Heather will come for us_

_And even though it dosen't seem likely_

_I'll at least try_

_Courtney was the next one to sing_

_I doubt that they'll come, both are weak and not too bright_

_And now we are both trapped in here with one who's meek and another's who's heart is not so bright_

_But I'm still gonna try_

_Duncan growled._

_I'm sick of all of this god damn singing, and I've got a pesky thorn in my side- He sneered at Noah_

_And now I'm trapped in here with some girl that is driving me insane_

_And as much as I really want to quit I must hold out for a little more_

_I'm going to try_

_Noah sighed as he knew it was his time_

_I had some plans but they all fell through and now it seems an eel will countinue to lurk_

_And now I all my plans will ride on some track suit guy _

_While I'm stuck in this cell, with a goth, a girl and some jerk_

_But too much is riding on this so_

_I'll at least try_

Xxx

Cody looked uneasy as he darted round the tree. Squatting, he glanced behind him to see the looming castle of Team Chris. Team Amazon's plan was to have Heather guard the flag while Gwen and Courtney go for supplies on the tower while Cody tried to take a stab at Team Chris. One of the reasons the tech geek volunteered was to make sure that he did not have to face Heather.

_"Make sure you don't screw up!" Those were the exact words that Courtney had used as he parted ways with her and Gwen. _

Cody's eyebrows raised as he saw a singular opened window towards the back of Team Chris's castle. A single, yellow flag seemed to be sitting on the lawn of the castle. And to Cody's amazement, it looked like to be Team Victory's flag, or for all intensive purposes, Ezekiel's flag. The tech geek wondered why the flag was there. At first he came to the conclusion that Ezekiel's flag must've been captured by Team Chris. But then why didn't they put in in the castle?

_"Make sure you don't screw up!"_ Again, Cody remembered those words from Courtney. This could be Cody's chance to score a point for his team, and not to be belittled by Courtney again. He could become the hero for his team!

However, there was also another thing that Cody feared of if the Amazon's lost. Even though no one told him specifically, he was very sure that next time Team Amazon lost, Courtney and Gwen would both vote for Heather. And Cody himself liked Heather. She might've been very mean to him at time, but the tech geek did know that The Queen Bee did have a heart and did talk to him on occasion. Not like Courtney, who just complained about his uselessness.

Suddenly, Cody snapped back into focus as he remembered what he needed to do. Swiftly, Cody ran from behind the tree and made towards the yellow flag. As Cody was near the flag, he grabbed it and pulled it up. Cody slightly struggled to get it out of the ground but eventually the Tech Geek got it.

"Yaaagh!" Cody turned around suddenly to see Tyler charging at him and before the tech geek had a chance to react the jock ran into Cody knocking him to the ground. "Damn it, sorry bro!" Tyler apologized. "I kind of just slipped and fell on you, didn't mean to do that."

"Its fine, Tyler." Cody coughed as he stood up, down trot that he got caught. "Why didn't you put Zeke's flan in with yours though?" The tech geek asked.

"Sorry man, but our team and Zeke are in the alliance this challenge." Tyler seemed to grin. Cody's eyes widened.

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's awesome!" Tyler said. As Tyler said 'awesome' Cody suddenly came to the realization of something. When Tyler tackled him, he neglected to pull Cody's red 'Amazon' flag off. Technically Cody was still in the game!

"Sorry man but I think you have to go to jail right now." Tyler said. Cody nodded.

"Yeah, I think I dropped my contacts though, can you help me find them?" Cody asked. Tyler's brow furrowed.

"Wait, when did you get contacts?" Tyler said, dazed by Cody's question. To Tyler's dismay, he never received an answer to that question as Cody with break neck speed picked up the yellow flag and took off sprinting.

"HEY!" Tyler called. "YOU-" And before Tyler finished his sentence he saw that Cody still had his flag behind his pants.

"Why'd you let him get away?" Alejandro called from inside as he ran towards Tyler.

"Um, I, uh-" Tyler stuttered looking red with embarrassment. "I for-forgot to take his fla-fla-

"Ugh!" Alejandro stamped his foot. "I must give chase, maybe I can still catch that pazguato." And with that Alejandro gave chase to the tech geek before Tyler could answer back.

As the Latin boy went Tyler seemed to hang his head, feeling like an idiot for making such a clumsy error.

Xxx

Cody was running for his life now, not daring to turn around, not even thinking about how lucky he was that Tyler had neglected to pull out his flag. All of his thoughts were now trying to get back to his team's castle, and score Team Amazon a point.

Suddenly, Cody heard panting behind him and saw Alejandro was chasing him, and gaining speed at that. Even with the vein pumping adrenaline the tech geek had at this moment he was still no matched physically for Alejandro to beat in a foot race, even with his massive lead. He had to think of something.

And suddenly, Cody had a remarkable idea.

Suddenly, the tech geek stopped short, his sneakers skidded on the old Irish grass. Alejandro, obviously did not expect this, and kept running before he realized what happened. And apparently, the latino was really good at running but not so good at stopping. And as Cody tried to run back to the castle another thought occurred to him.

In his daze I can take his flag

If he did this, and take back the flag, why he'd be no doubt the star of Team Amazon this challenge.

Cody, now changing direction ran straight for Alejandro, eager to pull out the blue colored thing in his pants. He was close now, the tech geek, and extending his arm to the flag he could feel the fabric.

But he was too late.

Alejandro sped around, so swiftly before the tech geek to react and smirked.

"Good try amigo, but now I must take back this flag and you to jail now." Alejandro said, behind his sly grin. Behind the Latino's cocky and almost playful tone, Cody did detected great annoyance and frustration in his voice. Most likely to Tyler, who caused this great blunder and allowed himself to escape. Cody realizing he needed to act fast got an idea.

"FOR THE NEW LUNAR REPUBLIC!" Cody cried an obscure My Little Pony reference. Alejandro blinked for a second, dazed. He had no idea what Cody was referring too. However in that split second daze, he allowed Cody to speed off towards the castle.

**Confessional Cams**

**Cody: **I remember Paul talking to Tyler and I about it when we were palling around in Vegas together. It's apparently some website where you can fake join Princess Luna's army and join the fight against the 'evil' Celestia. *He shrugs* It was the first thing that I could think of.

**End Confessional Cam**

Xxx

As Cody was running fast to his castle, Noah, Gwen, Duncan and Courtney were still staying in the jail cell. And the tedious boredom was now affecting the four teens greatly, even Noah.

"Damn it" Duncan cursed, slamming his hand to the concrete in frustration. "How long until this is going to end!?"

"Will you stop yelling!" Courtney shot back, obviously frustrated about her time in the cell as well.

"Yes, Courtney more yelling will make him stop yelling. Brilliance." Noah quipped. Courtney glared daggers at Noah with daggers.

"Shut it!" Courtney snapped.

"Again, you think making more volume will just shut everyone up. It's not." Noah said right back, remaining his composure."

"Yeah well-

"Guys!" Gwen interrupted. "I think I heard something move."

"It might've been her banging around due to her not being able to accept common sense." Noah quipped gesturing to Courtney. Gwen shot Noah a glare.

"I'm serious Noah, I think I felt the ground move."

"I actually think Noah was right on this one pasty, it might've just been Miss Princess just banging around." Duncan agreed. While Courtney fumed Gwen shook her head.

"I'm telling you I felt something move!" Suddenly as almost on cue Courtney, Duncan, Gwen and Noah felt something coming out of the ground. It didn't feel like it was an earthquake but it did feel like something was almost coming up from the ground almost.

"I told you. Gwen said as she saw the some cracks from the earthy ground beneath them in a corner of the room. In a split second later a hand, fist clenched broke through the ground of the earth having a green bracelet on it's wrist.

"What the?" Duncan said as the hand began to push dirt aside before a figure jumped out of the narrow hole it made itself on the ground. And out of all the contestants, Noah was the most shocked to see who the figure was.

"Izzy?" The bookworm said, gazing upon the psycho hose beast. Izzy confirming her identity smiled.

"Hey, Noah!"

Xxx

"Wait, how did you get here?" Courtney questioned the crazy redhead who was now sitting down, sipping a bottle of Pepsi that she had with her.

"Oh Mildred sent me, but that isn't important." Izzy chuckled, while the other were confused on who 'Mildred' was. "Right now, Izzy needs to help Da Zeke!" She glanced side to side. "Huh, I must've made a wrong turn at Albuquerque." She said, confused. "Did Da Zeke catch you guys?"

"You mean Ezekiel?" Noah asked, confused at how Izzy was referring to him as 'Da Zeke'. Izzy nodded. "No, we're actually in the intern's jail."

"Huh, than I did make a wrong turn at Albuquerque then." The redhead said.

"Wait Izzy, can you just tell us why you're even here?" Gwen questioned.

"Oh yeah! Izzy was going to help Da Zeke with the challenge today cause he's a one man team. I don't even care about those interviews."

Gwen and Noah, and eventually Duncan and Courtney finally pieced together that Geoff and Blainely must've sent Izzy to Ireland for the 'interviews' however like LeShawna and Lindsay she wasn't going to carry them out and apparently wanted to help 'Da Zeke' out.

"Oh, well." Izzy shrugged. "Izzy still has 3 castles to choose from, who knows, maybe the next one she pick will be the right one." She gestured to the four of them. "You can come with Izzy if you want."

"Come with you?" Noah asked. Izzy nodded.

"Yep! But if you want to you guys have to go fast before the interns and Chris know what Izzy's up to." She darts her eyes back and forth. "Cause she's not supposed to be here."

"All right." Courtney said, with gratefulness in her voice with Gwen smiling too. However Noah was filled with frustration with Izzy's offer. He needed to have his team lose and have Ezekiel, Team Amazon or the Interns win and with Tyler making an alliance with Ezekiel, the bookworm was banking on the Interns or Team Amazon to take the cake. But now he's getting freed! Izzy was inadvertently causing Alejandro to narrowly escape elimination yet again!

Grumbling he merely followed the others down the hole with the others and Izzy, hopefully in the next few minutes Team Amazon or the Interns would emerge victorious.

Xxx

Cody could taste freedom as he could now see his castle which was in view now. Grinning proudly when he crossed the boundary line, the tech geek collapsed to the ground, grateful that he evaded Alejandro's capture.

"Ugh!" Alejandro said frustrated stamping his foot, to angry to hide his true nature for a split second. "You are a good runner amigo but mark my words that my team will be back for you." Alejandro said before jogging back to his own castle. Cody just sat there with the flag, still panting with exhaustion.

_See Courtney, I can do it. _

Cody smugly thought in his head. Maybe with this that he did, the C.I.T can stop belittling him.

"Cody!" Heather barked from the castle as she ran to the tech geek. Seeing now what he did the Queen Bee smiled. "Cody you did it!"

"Yeah." Cody chuckled to Heather, forgetting about why he was avoiding her in the first place. Soon Cody rose to his feet, and Heather walked with him to their mini castle to rest for a bit. While on the walk Heather informed Cody that she managed to capture two interns while she was guarding but other than that not much happened. One of which was Paul.

"Hey Cody!" Paul greeted waving from the jail cell. "It's cool that this place has wifi, I'm watching some _Mr. Enter_ on the phone." Cody merely nodded back at him, still very exhausted to speak. Once both teen made way to the flag area Cody just sat there, he looked at Heather.

"So did Gwen and Courtney come back yet?" Cody asked.

"They got captured." Heather frowned. "By Paul and some others."

"Sorry about that again!" Paul called across the hall.

"Really." Cody said, sad that Gwen was caught. He didn't really care about Courtney. "That sucks, so you've been guarding all the time than when we first went out huh." Cody said.

"Yes." Heather said annoyingly. "All because stupid Goth Girl and C.I.T got caught." Suddenly her mood shifted, as Heather remembered what she wanted to talk about with Cody while she was on the plane. "Cody, about what happened, last night-

"Oh I should be going to save them then!" Cody quickly sprang up, his memory catching up with him. "I can go and save them and you stay here, so I'll just ge-

"Cody!" Heather angrily barked. "Can you just let me talk before you go off running like a complete idiot again!" Heather said grabbing him by the shoulder. Cody gulped but turned around to face the Queen Bee, scared at what she would say to him.

"Cody, I'm not mad." Heather started. Cody's eyes widened like plates.

"You-You're not."

"No." Heather said forcefully. "Look." She started again. "Cody, it was a mistake, I should have locked my door and you should've realized. Can we just forget it ever happened?" Heather asked. Cody relived nodded his head.

"Sure Heather!"

**Confessional Cam**

**Cody: **Wow, am I ever relived that Heather isn't mad at me. *Looks thoughtful for a moment* I honestly don't understand why everyone hates her so much, I mean yeah she can be a bit pushy sometimes but she isn't so bad. She's awesome in fact! And I do consider her to be my friend. And she's a much nicer person than Courtney ever could be.

I know this might sound mean, but I do actually get what Duncan's coming from on breaking up with her. I mean she's just _mean._ And it's not like Duncan _cheated_ on her or anything.

**Heather: **Glad that I got that out of the way. It's going to be hard to be in an alliance with someone if he keeps running because of him fearing me. Now I'm not going to deny that I was pretty mad when he saw my, well, yeah but Cody is the only person on the plane who's somewhat tolerable. Actually he's kind off cool. *A mad expression suddenly crosses her face* But I'm still only doing this for the alliance!

**End Confessional Cam**

Xxx

Noah grumbled as he crawled at the end of the pack through the tunnel where Izzy dug with the rest of the teens. He was right now praying that when they got out they would hear that one of the three teams that wasn't Team Chris would win and he'd have a chance with Duncan to send Alejandro packing.

However something was distracting him, and it was something that Noah was very ashamed about in admitting.

Gwen.

Right now, he was crawling behind Gwen, and Noah for some reason couldn't take his eyes off her. Luckily, no one could catch him looking, so the bookworm could gaze at the back of the Goth. Something about her, her strong brave nature about her, coupled with a body that was very pleasing to Noah just drove the bookworm crazy.

For Noah, she was perfect.

Noah grimaced as he pushed that thought deeper into his subconscious. Even if somehow it made sense perfectly for his strategy, Noah knew for a fact that Gwen didn't care for him as a significant other. She was with Duncan now. End of story. But now Noah realized why Cody, Trent even Duncan were attracted to Gwen in the first place.

"Izzy think's she see's the exit now." Izzy declared pointing to the top of the tunnel.

"Izzy are you sure this tunnel can support all of our weight?" Courtney asked, feeling the earth was shakey over her. It felt like to the C.I.T that they were over the top rocky roof part of a underground cave of some sort. Gwen seemed to think the same thing too. Izzy shrugged.

"Izzy never really thought about that." She said shrugging. "Whatever, I see the hole up here now!" She declared seeing a small, very narrow hole upwards. Crawling she and the other teens struggled to climb out of the circular thing, until it was only Gwen and Noah left in the small tunnel.

As Gwen started to stand up on her knees to get out though, she could feel rumbling beneath her feet. Almost as herself was the straw that broke the camels back. Causing Noah and Gwen both to fall to the depths below, screaming while the other 3 watched in horror.

**A/N: Yep, I ended on a cliffhanger! Now Noah and Gwen are trapped! Now I must say that most of this chapter is setup for the next one which will have a lot more focus on Noah and Gwen, mainly Noah. And will develop Gwoah more because Gwuncan focus is pretty much done from here on out. Sorry about that to the 1 Gwuncan fan who is reading this. **

**Anyway let me briefly talk about some of the refrences in here.**

**Arlen Texas is a fictional town where the show King of the Hill takes place. It's a great show and I recommend all of you watch it. It has reruns on Adult Swim**

**The New Lunar Republic is a fictional organization in the MLP community about Princess Luna going to war with Princess Celestia. I personally found it cool, and am even listed as one of the very many recruits on the French website. **

**Of course, Izzy refrencing that she had made a wrong turn at Albuquerque refrences Bug's Bunny. **

**Other than that I hope you guys have a nice day. **


	11. Ye Ole Irish Gambit Part 2

**Authors Notes: Yep, after about a month or so, Noah's Gambit has returned! Now what was the reason for the long hiatus you all might be thinking of? Well I'll tell you: Laziness! And other school work, but mostly laziness! And I apologize for that, but I hope this chapter will more than make up for it!**

**Here is: Ye Ole Irish Gambit Part Deux!**

* * *

Before Noah even had a time to realize what was going on around him, he felt that there was no ground beneath his feet. With that information in his brain the bookworm quickly deduced that he was falling downward. He could not see Gwen due to the darkness, but he knew that she was falling with him due to her screaming. Noah just glanced upward and could still barely see the light from the hole that he was about to go out of and Duncan, Courtney and Izzy's faces looking to them as they were falling. Swearing aloud he quickly prepared to brace himself for the splat that he would hit feel once him and Gwen reached the bottom.

_ Boom_

Noah heard Gwen hear let out a swear as they both hit the brown earth on their rear ends. Noah quickly surveyed the area that they were around in and immediately what he found a bit odd is that there were artificial lights surrounded around the room which they were in currently. This immediately struck Noah because he naturally assumed that he and Gwen would be falling into a mining facility of some sort that was likewise abandoned long ago.

But it looked like here that here was just a room for their friendly neighborhood host man to torture them some more, perfect.

"Damn it, I don't think we can see them anymore." Gwen observed pointing to the ceiling. Noah looked upwards too and see that they had fell so far that they could no longer see Izzy, Duncan or Courtney any longer. Noah assumed that they went and gotten help though.

"What is this place?" Gwen started again, observing the entirety of the room now, who was obviously now recovered from their sudden fall. Noah shrugged.

"I have no idea, but I suspect that our kind host here put this here for some reason, even made some sort of a trap that caused us to fall when we were with Izzy." Noah explained, now just realizing it for himself. To this Gwen cocked her head slightly, her dyed blue hair reflecting off of the artificial light.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Well doesn't it strike you a bit odd how we fell through _dirt_, _underground dirt_, and into a room where there's obvious electric currents running through it." Noah explained, slightly trying not to sound like too much of an overbearing nerd. Noah had made that mistake of letting people think that he thought that he was above people, it's what cost him his chances of winning in TDI. Plus he didn't want to sound like Harold, who often times when explaining something would act like a dickweed to people who didn't understand what he had. Again like Noah, that's what led to his elimination in Japan.

Gwen understood now nodding her head, and for some reason Noah thought that the Goth girl had looked different than she usually looked. But he didn't want to figure out the source, he didn't want Gwen to think that he was leering at him. Gwen suddenly than cocked her head to the side and pointed behind Noah's head. "You must be right because that's some sort of T.V monitor." Noah looked behind himself as well and saw that Gwen was right, a rather large T.V monitor was hanging above them. "Must be how Chris will talk to us."

"Great, I was dying to hear his borderline racist Irish accent again." Noah rolled his eyes.

"I have a feeling that his whole reason to do a season like this now was just an excuse to see how many racial jokes he can cram in per episode." Gwen grumbled a reply, with Noah nodding his head in return. "And of course no one ever realizes that you're actually supposed to where blue on Saint Patrick 's Day, not green." Noah seemed to smirk at that.

"And I thought I was the only one who knew."

"Yeah, I only know because I'm 1/4th Irish." Gwen commented. "A year before Total Drama started I took a vacation with my dad to Ireland, I get it from him, he told me about almost everything about the history of Ireland." Noah nodded his head as Gwen explained this, and sadly another one of his many thoughts about the Goth girl came right back into his head again.

_She's pretty smart…_

Noah always was attracted to girls who were smart, it was one of the reasons why he developed a little crush on Bridgette during the early days of TDWT. Whilst she wasn't book smart, she did know about culture and history enough for Noah to develop an attraction, but it seemed that Gwen knew a bit more than Bridgette when it came to the learning and what not.

As Noah was listening to Gwen talk, they suddenly both heard the monitor which was above them come alive with a slight ping. Both turned their heads to see none other than Chris McLain on the TDWT jumbo jet, looking a bit angry.

"Huh, you're not Izzy and Ezekiel?" Chris McLain suddenly stated, pointing his hand to them. The question was sudden and due to the obscurity of it Noah and Gwen were slightly confused.

"Brilliant observation." Noah replied drolly rolling his eyes. "We're also not any of the other 8 or so contestants that you had fall into this room." Chris McLain growled slightly hearing Noah's slight taunting's but merely sighed and rolled his head.

"And here I thought I was going to finally be rid of that _prairie kid."_ Chris muttered, slightly swearing in disgust after that statement.

"What do you mean by that, can you just tell us what's going on?" Gwen demanded, wanting to get right down to the point.

"Fine." Chris muttered, clearly not being the happy go lucky douchebag that he usually was during challenges. "You're all probably wondering why I let Izzy interfere with the game right?" He asked first.

"Honestly no." Noah replied, looking towards Gwen who nodded her head agreeing with Noah. "We both assumed that she just was trying to interview the contestants like Lindsay and LeShawna were supposed to do in Vegas."

"Well let me just explain." Chris said holding up his hands.

"After Izzy arrived in Ireland from Canada I quickly came up with a plan to eliminate someone who's been bugging me. Shortly put: When Izzy came to the jumbo jet so I can brief her I told her that she could go help Ezekiel if she wanted too, but I said that the best way to do it was tunneling. I gave her a map of all the castles so she could go to Ezekiel's and tunnel him back to the neutral spot she started to tunnel him out of. However-" He stopped and snickered. "Izzy would actually have been leading him to this trap room here, he and Izzy would fall in, and have to wait here until the challenge is over, until the Prarie boy was in last place." Chris smiled deviously now. "Then he'd be instantly eliminated, and I could be finally rid of that little twerp forever." Chris suddenly sighed. "What I didn't account for is Izzy reading the _map_ wrong, causing you two to fall in instead of Ezekiel."

"So you were trying to manipulate an elimination!" Gwen growled. Chris nodded.

"Yeah, and I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for you, meddling Goth." Chris chuckled a little at that. "But at any rate, I still want that homeschooled loser off my show, meaning that I'm probably going to have to call the first part of this challenge to a close so I can start the second one, with Tyler helping him, he kind of has a good shot at winning this one." Chris talked to himself.

"So what will be this challenge?" Noah asked. "Are you coming with this off the fly so you can just get Zeke gone or do you actually have a plan, personally I think the former."

"The challenge will be the 4 teams trying to navigate this underground maze we set up to get to the center of it all, where they'll find this!" Chris suddenly pressed a large red button that was on his side which changed the picture of the screen that Noah and Gwen were looking at. Both of them sighed as they saw a fake pot of gold surrounded by shamrocks and the like.

"Trying to find gold in Ireland? What new and exciting twists will we come across next?" Noah mumbled sarcastically.

"I know, I'm great aren't I." Chris smiled, not realizing Noah's last statement was rich with Sarcasm. "But it ain't as easy as it sounds, I'm gonna put some challenges up in every room you two traverse through."

"Us two?" Gwen asked. "We're not on the same team though?"

"Come on, don't tell me you guys haven't worked together on stuff before." Chris gave them both a wink. "Well Noah's basically forcing you to work together with him, but I digress. If you two get their first in front of the other 4 groups you both can decide who wants to claim it for your team because, in all honesty, as long Zeke doesn't win I'd be fine with any of you winning, including Paul and his band of interns."

As if on cue, which in hindsight it most likely was, a door was suddenly opened that was under the monitor leading to a long hallway. Noah in all honesty didn't know a door was there, just the same type of rock that was surrounding them ever since they fell down there. He assumed Chris had it painted that way.

"You two are lucky, you guys are going to have a head start while I stop the challenge and have to explain it." Chris sighed. "_Again."_ And then the picture of the monitor powered down, with a 'ping' like how it was first started. Gwen and Noah turned their heads to each other and nodded, both knowing what they would have to do.

Acting on their thoughts, both of them walked through the tunnel.

* * *

Ezekiel like most of the other contestants were hit with great concern when Chris called a stoppage of play of their current challenge. His concern grew greater when he saw Izzy and some others run and tell Chris that Gwen and Noah fell in a cave of some sort.

Chris calmed them all down however, explaining that Noah and Gwen were more or less fine (Although due to the host's track record with integrity, Ezekiel wasn't so sure) and the next part of the challenge. Due to Tyler more or less letting Cody get away and due to the interns causing a grand blunder causing Heather taking their flags for the Amazons, Chris informed that he would give out rewards of different values to help the 4 teams with their next challenge.

Team Amazon in first place was awarded with a pack of materials which included a pack to aid them.

Team Chris in second was awarded with just a map

And he and the interns both in a tie for last place got _nothing. _

As Chris explained the challenge more thoroughly, he led the contestants and interns behind the area of the plane, which they could see to decently sized holes that they were to go through to get the 'Leprechaun Gold.' And whoever makes it to the room where the gold is, was subject to elimination.

Luckily for him, Izzy managed to pester Chris enough to allow him to help him in the second part of the challenge, which was why Izzy was coaxing him down the hole.

"Come on Zeke!" Izzy said happily as she was halfway down the hole. "Come in after me!"

"I will Izzy." Ezekiel said, however he silently took a gulp of fear. "It's joos't, kinda dark." As he went down into the hole with Izzy, gripping the railing on the ladder.

"Aw come on the dark's kinda cool though! I really like it because you can do things that no one can see." Izzy explained as she got down to the bottom of it. This surprised Ezekiel, it looked like the hole would lead them a lot farther down. Ezekiel touched the bottom of the ground with his feet as Izzy continued to talk.

"Yeah so that's probably my favorite thing about the dark, no one can see you so you could practically do anything you want." As Izzy was saying this, Ezekiel gulped because it seemed that he and Izzy were now pitch black, and he couldn't see in front of her, hardly. "So let's say…" Izzy giggled. "If I wasn't wearing my shirt anymore, you couldn't notice because you can't even see me." That made Zeke do a double take.

"You're not wearing a shirt!" Ezekiel gasped.

"Well maybe I am and maybe I'm not." The redhead smirked in the darkness. "And while I'm at it, I also might have taken off my bra-"It was at this time Ezekiel was very glad that it was pitch black, Izzy couldn't see the massive nosebleed he was having.

"Bu-Bu-." He continued to stammer. "The camera's, they can't show a woman's um, _things_ on T.V!"

"Well on most programs they can't but on the _naughty ones." _Izzy laughed hard as she heard Ezekiel gasp again. Laughing for a solid minute, the red head looked up and with her eyes adjusting to the dark could see Ezekiel startled, and almost cringing. This made Izzy feel guilty about screwing with him a bit.

"Don't worry my Zeke, I didn't take my shirt off." Izzy tried to laugh it off, which Ezekiel let out a relived sigh towards. "Besides I don't even have a crush on you anymore."

"Yo-Yoo' had a crush on me?" Ezekiel asked, dumbfounded, pointing to himself. Izzy nodded. "Yep, back on Total Drama Island I thought you were pretty hot, shame the team swap didn't happen or I'd definitely would have made the first move on you." She shook her head. "But big O rocks my world now." Izzy affirmed. Izzy started to grin at Zeke.

"But even so that dosen't mean when we're all a bit older that you can't join us for some _fun." _ Izzy gave a great big wink to Ezekiel. Ezekiel didn't know what Izzy was implying, so he just laughed nervously and coughed.

"So, uh, where do you think we should go eh?" He asked the redhead, mostly to try to change the subject. To this Izzy shrugged and pointed to the path on the right, with her pulling Ezekiel along, with Zeke himself still reeling about Izzy's confession on having a crush on the Prairie boy a while back.

* * *

Even with the Chris giving them a supposed head start, Noah didn't think it would matter a whole lot, due to them still walking down the long dark, mud filled tunnel. Noah also thought that he should more or less strike up another conversation with Gwen, about their alliance with Duncan and ultimately who should achieve victory for today's challenge. Noah obviously would want to have the Amazons take first place, and he was also banking on Tyler to slow Team Chris which would hopefully lead them into a last place scenario. A scenario, which the outcome that Noah desired would be Alejandro elimination.

However, due to Gwen's and his conversation with Chris, the bookworm didn't think it would be as easy as he had once hoped. Chris had revealed to them that he was trying to set up Ezekiel's elimination, even going so far as to lying to Izzy, giving her a map to try to bust the Prairie boy out, and giving them a sort of dirt and mud cell for them for holding until the challenge had ended. Noah couldn't count out the possibility that Chris was currently trying to have Ezekiel mess up at the challenge, whether it being him trying to trap him or pulling some dumb rule out of his ass at the last minute resulting in Ezekiel's disqualification. And Ezekiel wasn't the most competent player in the game right now, heck, Noah would bet money that the prairie boy was the _least threatening _player in the game.

But even with that worry in mind, it wasn't what predominantly was affecting the bookworm at present. Casting a glance to Gwen, he could sense that the Goth was getting more noticeable frighten the farther they walked down the deep, dark corridor. This fear, Noah assumed, stemmed from her fear of claustrophobia, something which Noah had remembered since TDI's 'Phobia Factor' episode. Noah's eyes glanced forward and mentally cursed as he saw a smaller T.V on the wall, with an even smaller door below it. Noah reckoned that they would have to crawl through it.

"What's that?" Gwen asked, trying to mask her fear. The T.V screen turned on with a 'blip' again, almost on cue, showing their host's smug face.

"Hi, this is a pre-recorded message." Chris waved in a greeting. "I don't know who made it this far, but here's what you're going to have to do. All you have to do is just crawl through this door here, nothing really challenging." He smirked. "Except, for one thing, in the tunnel you're going to hear some creepy stuff. Like R rated Horror movie stuff so just be prepared…" Suddenly the T.V screen switched to black for a second leaving Noah and Gwen a bit confused until the screen popped up again, strangely with Dave, with a couple of chuckling interns behind him.

"All right so I managed to change the sounds that the speakers were playing so it would be a bit easy on whoever makes it this far, hopefully you'll like my selection of music better. I also made it so you won't be able to hear it until you physically go in the tunnel, just for a fun surprise." And as quickly as came on it was off. Gwen and Noah looked at each other, both not quite knowing what to say at this moment, and both for different reasons.

"So, who's going to go in first?" Noah finally said, getting to the point. Gwen rubbed her shoulders, clearly nervous for a moment. "Claustrophobia got to you?" Noah asked again, trying not to beat around the bush. Gwen sighed.

"Yes." She sighed. Noah nodded his head.

"I see." He said. Trying to figure out what to say next was hard. "Look, I'll go in first than." He finished, not knowing what else to say. What else could he say?

Gwen nodded as Noah began to open the tiny door and getting on his hands and knee's proceeded to go down the small hallway.

At first Noah couldn't hear Dave's music that he supposedly changed from Chris's _'spooky'_ one. But when he finally heard it, Noah whished that Chris's music stayed.

It started out harmless enough, and Noah assumed it would just be a simple dubstep song, but then he finally heard it, and Dave apparently turned the speakers all away up for this one.

_MY NAME IS PINKIE PIE, HELLO, AND I AM HERE TO SAY, HOW'RE YOU DOIN, I'M GONNA MAKE YOU SMILE AND I WILL BRIGHTEN UP YOUR DAY-AY-AY-AY_

_ITS DOSENT MATTER NOW, WHATS UP!? IF YOU ARE SAD OR BLUE, CUZ CHEERING UP MY FRIENDS IS JUST WHAT PINKIE'S HERE TO DO!_

It suddenly died down for a second, but it suddenly got louder as it started up again.

_CUZ I LOVE TO MAKE YA SMILE, SMILE, SMILE, YES I DO. IT FILLS MY HEART WITH SUNSHINE ALL THE WHILE, YES IT DOES! CUZ ALL I REALLY NEED A SMILE, SMILE! _**[1]**

Noah groaned as he finally made it out of the tunnel as the music kept blaring in his ear. Standing up he shook his head frantically until he saw a smartphone on the floor to the ground that was connected to another plug. Noah quickly deduced that this was where the music was coming from and quickly unplugged the phone, rendering the music silent.

"Just when you think things couldn't get any more asinine…" Noah mumbled as he bent down to the hole. Poking his head in him said: "I managed to unplug the music, so you can go now." Noah yelled towards Gwen.

Noah could not hear Gwen, but the Goth girl had just gulped at Noah's command. The last time when she was in a hole of this size was during the Prison movie challenge during Total Drama Action, but at least there she was in a hold with her teammates and friends so it didn't feel as bad. Here she was going to have to crawl through alone, isolated even.

"You can do it." Noah broke her thoughts and said. It wasn't forceful, but it at least gave Gwen enough courage to bend down on her knees and start working through the small tunnel. Luckily Noah had turn off the My Little Pony music but that almost made Gwen feel more fearful. Even though she hated to admit it, it would comfort her to hear a certain pink crazed candy colored horse **[2] **to sing an all be it cheesy uplifting song to get her through this.

All she had now was a cynical bookworm for encouragement.

Gwen gasped in fear as she felt some dirt trickle on the back of her shirt. Could the tunnel be caving in!

Noah, hearing Gwen's sudden gasp tried to encourage her to keep going.

"You can do it Gwen." Noah said again, although it wasn't very loud. Noah wasn't the type to encourage well… anyone for that matter. He was one who conquered fear through an analytical perspective. When he was younger, he didn't fret about monsters under his bed or the bogyman, but if his stocks in his virtual stock market game went up or if the price of oil crashed. However Noah's cue still didn't seem to gain Gwen any spark of confidence, and as her confidence level went down, her panic level increased.

Gwen almost felt as if the walls were getting closer, and would eventually squash Gwen into a Goth flavored pancake. This caused her to remember way back to TDI again, where Trent kept talking to her through the walkie talkie to keep her sane. It was mostly small talk, but it distracted her from her claustrophobia for long enough…

"Noah! Can you just keep talking to me while I do this?" Gwen panic ally said. Noah quirked his eyebrow in confusion for a moment, although Gwen could not see it.

"Talk to you?" Noah spoke aloud. Wasn't that what he was just doing? "About what?"

"Anything!" Noah cringed for a split second. He never heard Gwen this terrified before. Made him be a bit thankful that he wasn't claustrophobic like her. "Tell-tell me about your family!"

Noah frowned instinctively, his family wasn't something he liked discussing that much. "What's to tell, I'm the youngest of nine kids, soon to be second with another on the way."

"What are their names?"

"Gary, Eric, Steve, Karen, Haley, Mitchell, Peter, Sandra, and for the new one my parents are thinking to name him Clark." Noah recounted all the names on his fingers. "The first 5 are in collage whilst the latter 3 are in high school, _my_ highschool."

"Wha-What are they like!" Gwen sounded like she was getting closer to the end.

"To be completely frank I don't know Gary or Eric at all that well, and I barely even talked to Steve. Karen and Haley are carbon copies of Katie and Sadie and Mitchell is just a plain douchebag." Noah explained, remembering. "Peter and Geoff are essentially the _same_ person and believe me, his constant parties get very _grating_." He scratched the back of his neck. He wasn't used to describing his family like this.

"Sandra's the only halfway decent one, all she does is stay in her room and study all day."

"So like you?"

"Yes, I guess you can say like me." Noah answered. A brief awkward pause took place now, until Gwen emerged from the hole. Dirt covered the tip top of her hair, but overall it didn't much affect her.

"Thank you, Noah." Gwen said. "I guess I was panicking a lot back there."

"You were, but it was understandable." Noah replied, not really sure what to say. Gwen gestured to the device Paul used to make the MLP music.

"I wonder if Paul's going to get in trouble with Chris for changing the music."

"Hopefully not." Noah replied. "It seems that Paul has been advocating for fairer treatment for the interns, it'd be a shame to see him go." His brow furrowed for a moment. "I remember working for that douche for 3 months, 3 months of answering his calls, getting his coffee, and handling his affairs and then a second later I got spit on me by him and was kicked to the side of the road." He shook his head as he remembered.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you even take that job anyway?" Gwen asked. Noah thought about that question for a moment but shrugged.

"Mostly that it would look halfway decent on my resume for Collage, and I somehow thought that if I just started there, I would managed to work my way up and land myself an actual job somewhere." Noah shrugged. "But no amount of collage credit in the world would get me to work for _him _again." At this Gwen nodded her head, however than after a brief awkward pause filled the air for a moment.

"I guess we should keep on going then." Gwen suggested, gesturing to the open passageway. Noah nodded his head.

"Yes, hopefully neither my team is making any headway this challenge." Noah replied, as the two walked down the hall.

Xxx

"Oooh, I think I see a door up ahead!" As Izzy started sprinting towards it, with Ezekiel running just to catch up to her.

As both participants opened said door what they found was a bit similar to what Noah and Gwen saw. The room was a bit large, and a television monitor was over the door, although this door was regular sized. The only noticeable difference is that there was a helmet on the floor, and wires connecting to it that ran to various electric outlets to the side of the walls.

Before Ezekiel or Izzy could say anything, the screen blipped to life, revealing Chris McLain.

"Yo, I'm going to make this quick because I have like so many more things to record." The Chris on the screen said plainly. "I have no idea who's in the room because I'm just a pre-recorded message but all you gotta do to get this door open is to have everyone on whichever team is in here to put on the lie detector helmet and say one embarrassing thing about them." The monitor suddenly blinked to show a deck of cards being shuffled around.

"These truths are going to be _randomly _generated, so it won't be boring to have one person answer the same question. So start whenever you like."

"Hm, well I guess that means you have to do it Zeke." Izzy spoke up.

"Me?" Ezekiel asked confused and gesture to himself. "Why doo' I have to goo' first?"

"Well you're the only one on the team silly bean." Izzy chuckled. "Izzy's just helping you." Ezekiel nodded at Izzy and sighed as he put on the helmet as his truth was read aloud to him.

"Are you kidding me, how generic?" Past Chris mumbled on the T.V screen. "Tell the other person in the room, and the entire audience by the way, about one of your crushes." And as soon as Chris came, he quickly departed. Ezekiel gulped.

_C-Crush?_

Amazingly, he saw that Izzy was now sitting on the floor and look enthralled. "Wow, I get to see a show too!" With that Ezekiel became even more nervous. In his whole life there have only been two girls that Ezekiel had any huge crushes on and that was Izzy and Bridgette. However which would be easier to talk about?

Blinking, he looked at Izzy for a split second. No, not the Izzy one. Ezekiel felt that it would make it too awkward considering he was more or less stuck with her for the remainder of the challenge. And his crush on her was no more, so that left the latter…

"I doon't knoo' if I can do this Izzy." Ezekiel twiddled his thumbs. "I mean, the person, erm, she's already in a relationship."

"Aw that's okay." Izzy waved her hand. "You're not committing adultery or anything, just say it." At this Ezekiel still had no idea what to do but shrugged his shoulders.

"It's, erm, Bridgette." Ezekiel squeaked out his reply.

For a long moment, for what it seemed like an eternity to Ezekiel, Izzy was silent and Ezekiel almost thought that he accidentally offended the redhead in some way. She was Izzy after all, unpredictability was her middle name. And suddenly, without any provocation, Izzy started laughing.

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Izzy roared with giggles, so much so that she was lying on her back crying with tears. Ezekiel felt a little confused at this, but he did get the fear that Izzy was laughing at him forever thinking that he ever had a chance with the blonde surfer.

"Wha, what's so funny, eh?" Ezekiel asked.

"Oh, it, it's just." She struggled to remain composed. "You thought nobody knew about it!" She said pointing to him. With this Ezekiel turned beat red.

"What!" Ezekiel asked, flabbergasted. This than threw the redhead into another fit of laughter which lasted for a few minutes, and until only then could Izzy could resume conversation with him.

"Of course people know, silly bean." Izzy replied now, done from the laughter.

"Really?"

"Oh well not anyone, but most due. Cody, Noah, Big-O, Tyler, DJ, and Izzy thinks that and maybe Bridgette herself knows about it." She winked at Zeke. Ezekiel just stared at Izzy now, looking completely defeated.

"Oh noo'." He pulled his toque under his face. "This is awful." Izzy looked a bit confused at this.

"Why is it awful Da Zeke, we don't care if you like her or not."

"It's not just that, well, I knoo' that yoo', Tyler, and Cody and the others wouldn't really care." Ezekiel started to explain. "But Bridgette must hate me right now."

"Huh?" Izzy asked.

"Well, you knoo', if she knoo's how I feel about her when she already has a boyfriend, I mean, isn't that wrong. Isn't it wrong to like somebody if they are already in a relationship?" As Ezekiel said it aloud to Izzy, he started to question it more himself. And it was at this time, Izzy slapped her forehead.

"OOOHHH, Izzy forgot that you don't know about what happened!" Izzy said to herself. "Well I guess it makes sense, considering Da Zeke hasn't been to the aftermath show or the new Playa Des Losers yet?"

"Ooom?" Ezekiel raised his hand, really confused now. "I'm sorry Izzy, but, oom, what do you mean? What happened on the Aftermath show?"

Izzy stopped rambling to herself for a second and looked at Zeke. "Well, it's kinda a weird and sad story, but Izzy thinks you should know, it'll make you feel less bad about liking Bridgette." And thus this began Izzy to recall the epic tale to Ezekiel, with exaggerations of course because hey, this is Izzy we're talking about.

_(Flashback)_

_Izzy began her tale midway during the aftermath, where Geoff and Bridgette were trying to raise enough money to get the Total Drama crew back up into the air after they crash-landed in Jamaica. Izzy (Technically Brainzilla at the time) was sitting in the peanut gallery, and there was some noticeable tension between Geoff and Bridgette. It was clearly evident because throughout the whole show, Geoff wouldn't say a word to the blonde surfer girl, much to her dismay. This made hosting pretty difficult. _

"_Why aren't they talking to one another?" Eva growled. "It's making this thing go incredibly slow."_

"_Oh my gosh, maybe they're in a fight!" Sadie whispered to Katie._

"_Oh my gosh, do you think!"_

"_I think the best attempt we could do to gather this source of information we do not possess is directly asking them." Brainzilla stood up, immediately initiating her plan. Trent tried to talk her out of it briefly, saying that it would make things to awkward but Brainzilla declined. _

"_Excuse me, Carbon based life forms Bridgette and Geoff." Brainzilla stood up and spoke. Geoff and Bridgette both turned their heads to her, Geoff looking a bit annoyed that Brainzilla had just interrupted a segment of 'That's Gonna Leave A Mark!'_

"_Yeah Brainzilla?" Geoff asked._

"_I have just heard inquiry from colleagues Eva, Katie and Sadie of why you have been noticeable abrupt with carbon based life form known as Bridgette?" Brainzilla asked. Geoff looked noticeable startled from this inquirer, but he did notice the majority of the people in the peanut gallery wanted to know as well, evident due to them nodding their heads. Even Bridgette, someone who he was really mad at up to this point, was nodding her head too, wanting to finally find the answer of why Geoff was acting so downright nasty towards her._

"_You know what Brainzilla, I'm going to tell you!" Geoff stood up in his declaration. "Bridgette cheated on me!" _

_Gasps could be heard from the audience at this point, except from Brainzilla who was busy trying to figure out a new method of time travel._

"_I thought you were over the me kissing Alejandro thing!" Bridgette held her hands up in defense. _

"_Don't play dumb with me!" Geoff turned and yelled at her. "I know all about you and Dave!"_

"_Excuse me?" Suddenly a brown skinned kid walked through one of the doors with a box of doughnuts. Confused at what was going on, however he was unnoticed. _**[3]**

"_What?" Bridgette asked, confused. She had never met anyone named Dave. _

"_You heard me, I know about how when you said that you were going to the store for some food you actually went to your new boyfriends Dave's house, I know how you lied to me, I know how you betrayed me Bridgette!" _

"_Excuse me for interrupting." Harold interjected, a bit confused. "But where did you hear this from Geoff?"_

"_Why does that matter!"_

"_I think carbon based life form Harold is bringing up the theory that you may have heard of this information through an unreliable source, or in layman's terms, whoever told this to you was 100% false or, again in laymen's terms, a lie." Brainzilla explained. Geoff blinked for a moment, trying to process what Brainzilla said. _

"_Uuuh, Blaineley." Geoff answered._

"_Someone called?" Blainely said, walking into the set. That was Bridgette's breaking point._

"_Blaineley! You trusted Blaineley!" Bridgette seethed at Geoff._

"_Oh yeah that thing." Blaineley chuckled absentmindedly. "Yeah, I actually made that whole thing up."_

"_You what!?" Geoff turned to Blaineley, utterly shocked. _

"_After you guys made up I knew this show needed a bit more spice, so I fabricated a story that I saw her-" gesturing to Bridgette. "Making out with someone named Dave." This understandable was met with a handful of glare's from the peanut gallery, Bridgette included. Brainzilla however, was still figuring out if her time travel equation was malfunctioning._

"_What? It's not my fault that I wanted to keep this show running, and it isn't like they aren't going to do anything about it." Blaineley gestured towards Bridgette and Geoff. _

_After that, what experienced there after even made Brainzilla stop her calculations. _

"_I'm done." Bridgette said plainly. _

"_Excuse me?" Geoff answered, still blurred by what had just happened. _

"_I'm done Geoff, I'm done with this whole Aftermath show." Bridgette stood up, pointing to Blaineley. "I'm sick of this Geoff, this started in Action and I thought it was over but ever since she's been here she's been filling your head with so much crap!"_

_Brainzilla cringed at what Bridgette said involuntarily. She had never heard Bridgette curse before, not even a minor swear word like 'suck' or in this case 'crap.'_

"_Aw fuck Bridge." Geoff tried to touch her shoulder. "I'm so so-_

"_No Geoff." Bridgette twirled around. "I'm sick and tired of this, and if I just forgive you now in a couple weeks we'll just be right back in here again, only worse."_

"_She's probably right." Blaineley snickered under her breath. Bridgette casted a death glare at Blaineley but ignored her._

"_I'm sorry Geoff but, I-I'm done. I'm quitting."_

"_QUITTING!" _

"_Yes Geoff." Bridgette stood firm. She felt as if all eyes were upon her now, (which they were, save for Blaineley who was busy looking at her manicured nails.) "And Geoff-" She faltered for a moment and for a split second she wanted to back out of what she was about to do, but she persisted. _

"_I'm breaking up with you."_

_(End Flashback)_

After that, Izzy just tried to wrap up the story as quickly as possible. After Bridgette told that to Geoff it threw the former laidback Party Boy into hysterics for a while, enough for him to start crying on stage, as Bridgette walked off the set without him. Luckily enough: Harold, Justin and Trent (with the same 'Dave' that brought that box of doughnuts. He was interning at the network studio that Trent pulled up on stage to sing Cody's part of the song) managed to raise enough money with some more drama brothers songs, which paid for the money which got the plane fixed up in Jamaica.

"So yeah, don't feel bad about liking Bridgette My Zeke." Izzy smiled. "Cuz, Gidgette's toast!"

"Woah." Ezekiel said to himself. "I can't believe it." While Ezekiel was slightly relived that liking Bridgette wasn't as taboo as he thought, he was more concerned about the circumstances of the breakup between Geoff and Bridgette and moreover how it affected them.

The way Izzy told the story, even with Ezekiel counting the redhead's exaggeration into account, obviously made the surfer girl extremely upset if it caused her to quit a high paying T.V job like that. And Geoff, crying on stage. Ezekiel always had liked Geoff, he didn't get to talk to him that often but every time he was on the Aftermath show during Total Drama Action Geoff always introduced him in the peanut gallery with a strong smile. Being mostly lonely on his time on both the Action and Island's equivalents of Playa Des Losers it always made the Prairie boy feel good.

"Well thanks you Izzy, you knoo'." Ezekiel took the helmet off as he said that.

"No problem silly bean." Izzy smiled. It soon turned into a smirk. "But that means that after you win this show you have a definite shot at getting Bridgette!"

"What, wait, you think I can win?"

"Of course Izzy does!" Izzy declared. "You're the underdog and underdogs always have a lot of fight in them!"

"But I'm only a team of one." Ezekiel replied. "If I just lose one challenge I'll be instantly eliminated!"

"But that'll drive you to work even harder!" Izzy affirmed. "You can do it!"

Like words that Geoff spoke of long ago, hearing Izzy compliment himself gave Ezekiel a burst of euphoric happiness in his stomach. And with this happiness he and Izzy continued their search into the ole Irish mine, determined to find the fake Irish gold inside it.

Xxx

It didn't take too long until Noah and Gwen found their next door, which led them into a room in the mine. Inspecting it, the duo could see that this room varied quite a bit from the ones they were in previously.

One big thing was that the northern side of the room, well, there was no wall. Likewise, an old mining cart was on some rails that extended outward, and both Noah and Gwen could see outward from it.

"Oh joy, I wonder what he'll make us do next." Noah rolled his eyes as Gwen picked up a post it that was attached to the mind cart, reading it.

"Yep, he wants to make us ride in it." Gwen deadpanned. "Great, just what I wanted to do today."

"And what's stopping you from not doing it?" Noah asked. "Because I'm certainly not subjecting my body to that deathtrap."

Gwen frowned. "We don't exactly have a choice Noah."

"Yes we do." Noah replied. "And I have a sneaking suspicion if I go Chris will just rig it for me to inadvertently get the gold and win the challenge, causing Alejandro to stay another challenge." Noah shrugged.

"You don't know that for a fact." Gwen persisted. "I thought the plan was to get there to make sure that I get the gold, and making sure that your team goes to the elimination ceremony."

"That was implied, never set in stone." Noah countered. "Besides your forgetting Duncan, he'll make sure that Tyler and Alejandro won't get the gold."

Gwen was growing frustrated. "Because Duncan is just _so reliable _now isn't he?"

"I didn't say that Duncan was reliable," Noah started. "What I am saying is that Duncan knows, or that I hope he knows, that having Alejandro around some more would severely screw him in this game."

"If you think Duncan give's a crap about strategy than why did he kiss me?"

That threw Noah in for a loop.

"What?" He asked, turning to Gwen's face.

"If Duncan even cared even a fragment about his competition, he wouldn't of have kissed me, or at the very least, would have broken up with Courtney first. Duncan doesn't care about you, or Courtney, or Alejandro or-

"I get the picture." Noah raised his hands in defense. "Duncan is an uncaring douchebag that only thinks of short term solutions to problems and doesn't understand the implications of those short term problems having very long term consequences." His brow furrowed. "That still isn't going to get me in that cart."

"And what about Alejandro staying?"

Noah began to sit down.

"Courtney, Heather and even Cody to some degree are competent enough to win, Chris's interns probably know this place better than anybody and Ezekiel has Izzy on his side, someone who to this day, I still don't know the potential of what that girl could accomplish. No need to risk ourselves when _3_ teams can do it themselves." Noah explained.

"So you're just going to do nothing than?"

"No, it's not." Noah replied. "Doing nothing is what Owen accomplishes 99% of his day, I'm strategically biding my time."

To this Gwen let out a frustrated sigh, and stamped her right foot on the ground. "You know what: fine. I don't need your help, I'll finish this challenge myself."

To this Noah perked up, and looked at Gwen, a bit perplexed.

"You can't be serious. By yourself?"

"Yes, Noah." Gwen replied, walking towards the cart. "By myself. If you want to just sit there and let your supposed arch nemesis Alejandro stay in the game than so be it. I for one am actually going to compete."

Noah didn't know what to say to that, and a slight part of him felt sad about Gwen leaving him. Noah spoke up as Gwen got into the cart.

"You do realize that Chris probably will lead that cart into a wall or something leaving you injured right?"

"It's a possibility."

"Or that he'd most likely not make enough rail causing the cart to plummet."

"Probably."

"Or if that he's greased the rails, making it easier for you to lose control."

"Yep."

"And that if you do get hurt, no one would have the ability to get to you for some help."

"Right again."

…

"Wait."

Gwen turned around and saw the bookworm standing up, silently brushing the dirt from his pants and sighed.

"I'll go with you."

To this Gwen smiled for a moment. "Thank you Noah, that, that really means a lot."

Hearing Gwen compliment Noah made Noah feel a bit weird, good weird, but he didn't want to let it show.

"Sure, I lived a pretty full life up until now." Noah replied. "But I did think over your points and they were good ones. I really shouldn't abandon my plans and just rely on Duncan." Gwen nodded to him, as Noah gripped the side of the cart, now visible nervous as Gwen shifted her momentum to get the cart to start moving.

And before Noah could offer one last snarky comment, they were off.

Xxx

Noah immediately regretted his decision. As soon as Gwen and he took off in the cart, he felt like his stomach was continuously doing backflips.

"Do you know how to control this thing!?" Noah yelled out.

"If I were do you think I'd be making it go **this** fast!" Gwen yelled right back at him as they veered another corner.

"Point taken!" Noah replied loudly as they took another dip, only for them to go back up. For some reason now, Noah felt that the mine cart slowdown as they were now on a completely flat plane. And as Noah was about to relax, he was greeted by a less than pleasing voice.

"I guess you guys got to the mine cart section now!" Chris chortled, to what Noah and Gwen deduced was some sort of an intercom system.

"Chris!" Gwen yelled.

"The one and only." He replied smugly. "But in all seriousness you guys should let me warn you two about what's going to come up next at the next part."

"What thing?"

"What 'next part?'"

"Oh sorry, I guess you've wasted all of my time to explain it to you as the next part of it's going to come right now. Whatever, I'll see you two back at the plane when this is all over anyway, if you don't get severely injured that is!" And as soon as he came, Chris's voice was gone. And not a second too soon, as when his voice disappeared Noah and Gwen saw another drop-off up ahead.

"Motherfu-AAAAH!" Noah screamed as he and Gwen plummeted a second time with their cart. Noah's mind frantically searched for what Chris might be talking about as their cart veered right almost causing Gwen and Noah to fall off of it.

The cart than decided it must've been too lenient to them as it suddenly made a sharp left turn after which made them crash into the otherside of the cart. Noah in his disorientated state peered ahead and saw a, what Noah perceived it as, a big blue crystal jutting out the side of the wall and with where the cart was position, they needed to duck!

"Get down!" Noah yelled, ducking his head with Gwen doing the same. After which the cart seemed to gain some speed as the duo saw more crystals jutting out of the walls that he had to duck under. One almost decapitated Noah's head, and he was wondering when the seemingly endless rails would end.

Unfortunately, he was going to get his wish in a few moments.

As the cart made an extremely sharp turn, a crystal seemingly jutted out on its own out of nowhere from the wall.

"Duck!" Noah cursed as he bent down, missing the crystal by a hair.

Gwen wasn't as lucky.

***SMACK***

Gwen's head directly hit the jutting out crystal, causing her head to fly back and with the resulting momentum to fly back as well over Noah. Upon sheer instinct Noah turned around and caught Gwen's hand… as her knees were being scraped on the rails!

"Noah, please, pull me up." Gwen pleaded. Noah struggled and heaved and he noticed that the boxcar was slightly going his way.

"I'm trying." Noah heaved as he tried to use all of his weight to pull the goth back up.

Noah had no idea what to do at this point. Gwen in a few moments would slip out of his hands and he'd be going speedily away from her unless he didn't think of something quick. What did he have to work with?

…

Nothing, the only thing Noah could think of as a solution was for somehow him having to muster up enough strength to get the Goth onboard again.

"Maybe I should have taken that offer from Eva for some training." Noah muttered as he heaved again with all of his might. And thankfully, Noah somehow found it within itself as Gwen got back on the boxcar, falling on Noah in the process. And for some reason Noah heard a sound that sounded like the ripping of a shirt, and for some human skin on his chest.

However when he looked down, he saw that apart of Gwen's shirt was gone and her skin was pressing up to his. He quickly masked the blush however, he had more important things to deal with at the moment.

"What!?" Gwen suddenly shouted pointing her arm. Noah confused what she was talking about got out from underneath her and peered ahead, only to have his mouth drop.

Ezekiel and Izzy, riding on a mine cart similar to his and on the same rail were soon going to collide with them.

"Izzy do you knoo' how to stop this thing!"

"Izzy doesn't know!"

"Gwen, quick we have to put all of our momentum-

"Noah there's no time to-

***CRASH***

Sounds of human bodies colliding as well as the wood and metal from the mine carts sounded throughout the area as Noah, Gwen, Ezekiel and Izzy flew out.

Blinking his eyes, Noah deduced he was now free falling with the other three teens and silently cursed at Chris McLain.

_Death by a reality T.V show, what an honorable way to die_

Noah thought to himself sarcastically. However his state of hopelessness was lifted when stared down and saw a big, water filled area below them. Almost as if it was an underground lake of somekind.

They weren't going to die, but in about 5 seconds they were going to get wet and very cold. Very, very _very, _cold.

***Kerplunk***

Xxx

While Noah and the others were probably severely injured, the other 3 members of Chris is Very, Very, Very, Very, Hot were immensely bored. They had yet to reach a challenge are yet, and they were walking in this tunnel close to a half an hour by now.

"Man, I feel like we either picked the right or the wrong tunnel to go through." Tyler mumbled.

"I agree amigo, it is very odd that we have not went through any challenges yet." Alejandro concurred.

"Hey, I think I see a door." Duncan pointed and saw a large orange door. The three boys ran over to it quickly with Alejandro throwing it open, they all were eager for some new scenery.

Like the ones Noah, Gwen, Ezekiel and Izzy went through it looked quite the same. A door was underneath a monitor that Chris jutted out from the wall. And in a few moments, the screen blinked on revealing the smug host grin.

"Well it seems like whoever's here go the lucky draw, after this door you guys just have to walk down another hallway to the gold!" Chris stated.

"Radical!" Tyler pumped his arms out.

"But yeah, for this you gotta do, you have to figure out how to get past this floor without falling in, just look at the floor more closely." Tyler, Alejandro and Duncan all did what Chris instructed and they did see that a few paces forward were tiles that looked like one foot on them would send them falling below.

"So yeah if you figure all that out than you'll be golden, ciao!" And soon the recorded Chris message was over.

"We probably should approach this with caution…" Alejandro said, kneeling down to better look at the tiles. However Tyler, being Tyler, already tried to do it.

"No sweat guys, I got this!" Tyler declared as he started jogging out to the tiles. Duncan and Alejandro held their breaths, and too their surprise, Tyler didn't fall down. Tyler skidding to a stop to the center turned around and gestured the other two to follow him.

"Come on guys it's eas-AAAAH!" Almost as if this was all planned out, the two tiles Tyler was under slipped and fell, causing him to plummet to whatever ground below.

"Dios Mio!" Alejandro yelled. However Duncan immediately used Tyler's mistake to his advantage and ran the exact way Tyler did, only jumping over the last leg of it with ease, allowing the delinquent to be on the other side. "Amigo, should not we aid our teama-

"Look do whatever you want dude but I'm not letting that guy slow _me _down." Duncan told Alejandro before jogging through the door down the hallway. Alejandro shook his head.

"Oh to hell with it." And did the exact same thing that Duncan did a mere moments ago, following him, leaving Tyler to who knows where.

Xxx

After what Izzy just did, Noah thought that Izzy could practically do anything in the girl. That thing was single handedly pull Himself, Gwen and Ezekiel out of the water, and swimming them over to some hard for them to catch their breath on. Noah didn't like them, but he did realize that sitting on them was much better than jogging.

"Hmmm." Izzy wondered scratching her head. "I wonder why that happened."

"Chris must've made the rails so that the carts would smack right into each other." Gwen answered flicking her hair back. Glancing to Gwen a bit, Noah couldn't help but think of how 'cute' Gwen looked with water in her hair.

He tried to push that thought down into his gut and said: "Thank you Izzy for saving us but where should we go now." Izzy in reply shrugged but pointed to a larger jumble of rocks. Noah was confused until he looked a bit above it and saw some type of door, if they were to climb those rocks they'd get out of this area.

"I guess we need to climb those then." Gwen stared.

"Yes." Noah affirmed. Glancing at Izzy for a moment, he looked downward and saw Ezekiel still lying there. And it was that moment where he realized that Ezekiel didn't get up yet.

"Izzy," Gwen realized this too it seemed. "Is Ezekiel all right?"

"Well not entirely." The redhead chuckled, patting the farm boy's toque that was still on his head. "But Izzy think that he'll wake up in a few minutes or so, he still isn't that strong after what he'd been through on the plane." Gwen and Noah both nodded at that, and Noah himself was caught by surprise of how, well, sane Izzy was talking. "And Izzy thinks that you two should go off ahead, she'll watch over with Da Zeke while he rests."

"Are you sure?" Noah left eyebrow rose.

"Yeah, I don't want you two to mess up on your plan to take mean ol' Al down just to wait for me and Da Zeke." She said. Again, Noah was very surprised about how calm and collected Izzy was sounding, apart from her usual wacky antics.

Noah and Gwen smiled at that and quickly said a quick goodbye to Izzy before they made their way to the rocks, only to be stopped by Izzy's voice.

"And Gwen and Noah-"Gwen turned her head over to Izzy and stopped walking, prompting Noah to do so as well. "I know that some of the other people down at the Playa are a little mad at you two and Duncan for your super-duper secret alliance of taking down Alejandro, and for Gwen kissing Duncan, but I want you to know that Izzy is with you guys 100% of the way, and that Sierra and Owen were just caught in the crossfire." Izzy chirped.

Noah and Gwen at the very least looked semi-shocked of what Izzy was saying, too shocked that they didn't notice that Ezekiel's eyes started to flutter open, they had no idea what to say.

"Wow, Izzy." Gwen started. "Thank you that, really means a lot." In truth Gwen's mind was also fixating on the part where Izzy said 'other people down at the Playa are a little mad at you two' sure LeShawna and Lindsay weren't mad at her back at the Las Vegas episode when she talked to them, but LeShawna was practically her best friend and Lindsay was probably too much of an airhead to pay attention to what was going on.

"Yes." Noah nodded his head. "Thanks that you understand about everything." It was at this point where Noah was tempted to actually ask Izzy about how Owen got eliminated, something at this point, the bookworm had no idea how he accumulated the sufficient amount of votes to do so.

"No problemo!" Izzy laughed. "Now you two go on and take down that mean ol' Alejandro!"

As Noah and Gwen went away from Izzy, and started climbing the rocks, Ezekiel murmured groggily and started to get up.

"Hey, silly bean." Izzy greeted happily. "How was your little nap?" Ezekiel was sort of startled by Izzy.

"Fine." He said quickly. Although in actuality, Ezekiel had one major thing on his mind that he had heard a mere moments ago.

_Gwen, Noah and Duncan are in an alliance…_

But before Ezekiel could ponder on this thought further he felt that he heard a voice of someone screaming, and that voice getting gradually but speedily closer.

"Izzy do you hea-OOFMPH!" Ezekiel's sentence wasn't finished and his body flung to the ground again, due to a certain red clothed jock landing right on top of him, causing him again to lose consciousness.

Izzy, on one of the rare occasions, was startled and jumped back.

"Tyler, what are you doing here!?"

Tyler's head merely looked side to side, in a daze.

"Why did the purple meatball marry Santa?" **[4]** And with that miss mashed sentence, Tyler fell into unconsciousness, with Ezekiel under him.

Xxx

"I can't believe Goth girl got herself stuck in here." Heather grumbled as she walked with Cody and Courtney.

"I bet it was Noah who got her into it." Courtney grumbled in return. "Gwen probably isn't that stupid enough to fall in on her own."

"Ladies." Cody nervously chuckled. "Can't we just focus on finding them?" Heather merely grumbled but replied with a 'yes' to Cody whilst Courtney rolled her eyes and turned away.

Cody was certainly glad now that he was now friends with Heather, but even with that, the way Courtney was acting still irked him. Even when she was defending Gwen.

Ever since Vegas, it seemed that the C.I.T was in a perpetual bad mood, more than usual, and Cody bet that it no doubt had to do with her sudden breakup with Duncan. A breakup, that Cody had no idea why Duncan suddenly ended, and Cody betted even further that not even Courtney knew.

Although that still didn't give her the right to act like such a jerk, in Cody's mind at least, although that was pushed to the side in his mind when he saw the door at the end of Team Amazon's corridor.

"Hey I think I see a door!" Cody hurriedly jogged ahead to it, with Courtney and Heather jogging ahead of him to see it. After they opened it, their eyes gleamed at what was in the room.

A big pot of gold, on a small pedestal in a round circular room, with three other doors to the side of it, presumable for the other 2 teams and interns.

"Finally we're here." Heather said.

"But where are Noah and Gwen?" Cody said, a bit nervously. "I don't see them here yet."

"Probably still trudging through Chris's challenges." Courtney deduced. "I wonder if they had trouble with the mine cart part."

Cody gulped at the mere mention of the mine cart part that Courtney, Heather and himself had to go through. He almost fell off, and would have done so unless Heather didn't grab him by the ankle and hoist himself back up.

"It seemed that the ladies have beaten us here." Cody grew startled and he quickly turned to see Alejandro and Duncan walk out of one of the doors leading to here. Courtney growled (Presumable at Duncan) whilst Heather growled as well (Presumable at Alejandro.) Cody however notice that Tyler was noticeable absent from the group.

"If you think we're going to let you get this gold," Heather threatened.

"Heather, why should we all have such hostilities against each other?" Alejandro quickly interrupted, trying to be as sly as possible. "As long as we aren't in last place, we have no desire to see who wins. And if my calculations are correct, us being in this room allows our team to place in second already, so there's no reason for us to fight, right Duncan?" Alejandro turned to the delinquent.

"I honestly don't care." Duncan shrugged, although a look of 'oh crap' was visible on his face for a split second. "But uh," He interrupted. "Didn't Chris say that we needed to bring the gold out to be the winner?"

"I don't think so." Cody spoke up. "I think Chris just said to get to the room with the gold, not to bring it back to him."

"I must concur." Alejandro answered, looking strangely at Duncan. "Chris did not say that at all."

Duncan's eyes widened at this for a split second but he hid it with a shrug.

"Whatever."

In actuality he thought.

_Aw crud, Noah is going to give me so much shit for this!_

Duncan thought that even if they made it to the room with the gold first, that he could still somehow sabotage his team to get into last place when they brought back the gold to Chris. However due to them not being obligated to bring the gold back, his plan was nullified in an instant.

Alejandro was staying.

"However, I do must confess that I do want our teams to still compete in some way." Alejandro said, causing Heather to raise her eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Alejandro started. "I trust that the 5 of us and the other competitors have had a weary day so far and would much like to after this challenge rest up in the plane."

"Yeah." Cody admitted. "I'm beat."

"Well then." Alejandro took a step closer. "We probably should probably make sure the interns are in last place then, considering if they even take third place we have to care for them the whole trip back. And if the interns do get in last place, we don't have to have another elimination ceremony tonight lest Chris decides to kick off one of his interns."

"Woah, I almost forgot about that…" Cody said.

"I forgot about it too." Duncan glanced towards Alejandro.

"So it's settled then, we'll work together to make sure Ezekiel makes it to third place by getting the interns into last place." Alejandro decided. Cody and Courtney nodded their heads whilst Heather grumbled a 'yes' in reply. She still wasn't keen on the temporary team up with Alejandro or Duncan.

Xxx

Gwen and Noah were both very anxious for very different reasons as they walked through the (hopefully) last corridor that they needed to go through to get to the gold. For one both had no idea if any of the other teams sans Ezekiel's made it to the gold yet. And more worrisome, if Alejandro got there yet. And like Gwen mentioned before, Noah wasn't betting that Duncan was going to try to do any sabotage to meet that end.

But aside from that, there were some other things racing through the bookworm's mind as well, and they were some that he would have liked not to have. For some reason, what Gwen said about 'Duncan dosen't care about anyone' really struck a chord with him. And as much as he wanted to believe it, as much as he wanted to cast Duncan aside as some idiotic douchebag that was only using Gwen as some hot piece of ass like he thought earlier, with more deduction, he knew it couldn't be true.

Noah remembered how Duncan broke up with Courtney, right there on the spot. Noah assumed that Duncan must've knew that Gwen felt very, very uncomfortable with the start of her relationship with Duncan, when Duncan was by technicality still in his current relationship with Courtney. So, in a way, Duncan did care about Gwen enough to break up with Courtney.

However, still with the 'Duncan doesn't care about anyone' comment still made Noah a tad confused since Gwen must have not came to the same conclusion as Noah had if she said that. And the more that he thought about it, Noah might've been giving Duncan too much credit for ending things with Courtney. It clearly took no effort out of him to do so, and Noah would at least thought that Duncan would have felt even a little remorse for literally betraying her.

But no, Duncan did it on a hair trigger, and from what Noah heard, didn't even muster up the effort to make up a phony explanation of some kind.

So, at last, Noah thought of only two solutions.

It was actually hard for Duncan to break up with Courtney for Gwen, showing that he does care about the Goth

Or

Duncan didn't really care about breaking up with Courtney and only did so to make it _easier_ for him to date Gwen.

"Noah?" Gwen asked aloud to him as they walked, breaking Noah's thoughts.

"Yes?" Noah turned to her. Gwen seemed to breathe in a long deep sigh before she spoke.

"I kind of want to clear the air with this okay?"

"And you naturally think that I even have the slightest notion of what you are talking about?"

"Fine, I'll just tell you then." Gwen said. "The thing that Izzy said, right before I left I mean, do you agree with it?"

Noah narrowed his eyes. "Of course I do, and I've explained this to you a lot of times already. I know it might feel bad to manipulate eliminations like this, but in order to take down Alejan-

"No that's not what I mean." Gwen shook her head. "I mean the part about Duncan and I, um, kissing behind Courtney's back."

"Oh." Noah said, a little blindsided by the question. "Well…" He tried to find the right words. "Gwen, you do realize you're putting me in a difficult situation."

"I know but just honestly tell me what you think." Gwen affirmed. It seemed she really wanted to know Noah's answer. Noah gulped for a moment, he wanted to say that he didn't care in the slightest but in reality. Noah did care. He had a crush on Gwen, and he hated the very notion of her being with Duncan. So he decided to mix the two up.

"I'm going to be completely honest then." Noah said. "What you and Duncan did, even though I personally do not care, was wrong. I'm not going to get into the moral ambiguity of it, and I honestly hate playing judge but it was wrong. Now should you keep thinking about it and letting the guilt from it hold you down for the rest of your life absolutely not. You and Duncan kissing in the grand scope of things didn't affect anything at all. And frankly, you doing that isn't going to make me sway my opinion towards you, good or bad. You're all right, and Duncan's still a douchebag either way." Noah finished his explanation.

Gwen looked at the very least a bit shocked of what Noah said, but she smiled.

"Thanks Noah, that really means a lot."

"Glad I can help, now I think I see a door up ahead." Noah pointed to another door. The duo jogged closer to it and opened it, and were very shocked at what they saw.

Alejandro, Duncan, Cody, Courtney and Heather were all using their weight to keep one of the doors closed, and a pile of gold which was presumable spilled from the black cauldron was on the floor.

"What is going on here?" Noah asked, deadpanning. Cody turned his head from the door and seeing Noah and Gwen grinned and jumped from it.

"Awesome, you guys are all right!"

"Cody don't go away from the door we need your weight on it!" Courtney yelled back at him.

"Quick whining Courtney and just do it!" Heather snapped back. For some reason Courtney criticizing Cody irked her.

"Will you both just cram it!?" Duncan hollered at the both of them. However he suddenly saw Gwen and got off of the door as well.

"Gwen you're…"

"Duncan don't get away from the door I can't hold them in!" Alejandro yelled.

"Ah, I don't want to get flattened!" Heather yelled as she jumped away from the door. As soon as she did so, Alejandro and Courtney were trampled by the door thrown to the side by about 10 or so interns led by Paul.

In about 2 seconds, Noah was already confused at just what the hell was going on.

"Yahoo!" Dave made it inside and pumped his arms.

"Awesome!" Another intern who Noah knew by the name of Billy said. He then pointed at the contestants. "Now all you guys gotta wait on us hand and foot now!" He smiled with glee.

"What are you talking about?" Gwen asked, exhausted and confused.

"Allow me to clarify."

All eyes turned to see a T.V monitor come down from the ceiling reviling Chris McLain's face. Happier than usual.

"Yes! I see that Izzy and Ezekiel haven't made it yet!"

"What do you mean?" Heather asked, a little miffed.

"Hey why are you guys so mad?" Chris chuckled, holding up his hands. "You all are safe from elimination, although Team Amazon did win earning them a spot in first class!"

"Yes!" Heather and Courtney both fist pumped. Gwen's neutral expression remained whilst Cody smiled.

"And from the camera's it seems like Team Chris is in not winner and not loser purgatory earning them a spot in loser class." Chris declared. Alejandro and Duncan both shrugged whilst Noah inwardly cursed. He wanted his team to lose.

"And as for Ezekiel…" Chris smile grew into a happy grin. "He'll be instantly eliminated!" He cheered.

Cody was the only one who looked a bit sad at that, the rest maintained a neutral expression.

"So now what do we have to do?" Courtney asked the host on the monitor.

"Just go back the way you came." Chris said. "Go down Team ME's corridor, it's the fastest and just get back onto the-

"WE MADE IT!" All eyes turned to see Tyler yell while running full sprint towards them, with Ezekiel and Izzy trailing behind. As he got to the room, he saw everyone and frowned. "Huh, what happened?"

"And thank you Tyler!" Chris grinned again. As Ezekiel and Izzy got into the room, panting from the running, Tyler grew confused.

"What, what do you mean?" He asked Chris.

"Well, you fell on top of Ezekiel here." Chris pointed to the prairie boy from the monitor. "That made him fall unconscious again, making Ezekiel get last place in the challenge!"

"What!?" Tyler seemed to shriek in horror. "Tell me it was just a reward challenge!"

"Nope." Chris said, his euphoria sinking in. "Meaning that no matter how you slice it, Zeke's gonna get eliminated! And he ain't gonna play stowaway this time!"

"What?" Ezekiel eyes widened as he looked at everyone, including Chris. "I…lost."

"It appears to be that way." Alejandro tried to be sympathetic. "Sorry amigo."

"Dang, this sucks." Cody sighed.

"All because of me?" Tyler put his hands to his stomach. "I caused Zeke to lose?"

"Yep!" Chris said again. "And thanks again Tyler, seriously, thank you!" Chris said, knowing that Tyler was feeling guilty.

"It's okay." Ezekiel turned to Tyler. "I wasn't really expecting to make it that far eh." He was gloomy however, even though he tried to hide it.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Chris said. "Save your goodbyes for the elimination ceremony, and I'll see you all back at the plane as well, McLain out!" And soon the monitor rose up back to the ceiling as it blipped to darkness yet again.

Noah and the others all turned and left out the Chris door respectively, even Ezekiel and Izzy. However they all forgot Tyler who was still standing there, dumbstruck by everything.

"I, I messed up." Tyler sighed as he continued to stand there, as the camera faded to black.

Xxx

Everyone had very mixed feelings as a whole as they got into the plane for takeoff. Chris revealed to the interns in a twist that because they didn't achieve first prize, they still had to do their usual interning jobs, despite protests from Dave and others. As a result of which, most of the campers agreed not to ask anything too big of the interns until they get to their next destination.

And most everyone was venting out there thoughts in the confessional, after a long hard challenge.

**(Confessional Cam)**

**Duncan: I just don't know what to do anymore. I broke up with Courtney but Gwen still seems all weirder out. I honestly thought that if broke up with her it would make Gwen happy but, I dunno. *He sighs* And now I have Noah shooting me the stink eye of not doing anything about Alejandro winning. *He pulls out his knife and starts carving on the wall* I don't know man, because of what I did Owen's gone, and Gwen still is all weirdo'd out towards me, and I still got Noah and his fuckin' black mail. I mean (he falters) I already got a damn million bucks, I don't need to go through this again…**

**Gwen: I did appreciate of what Noah said to me back in the tunnel. I honestly had mixed thoughts about him still after Vegas but even though that he's blackmailing Duncan he's cool. *She sighs* although how long can we keep this up? Alejandro certainly isn't going tonight and soon the merge is going to come, and I honestly don't know how long Noah can keep the secret about Duncan and I…**

**And I don't even know if I still want there to be a 'Duncan and I'….**

**Noah: Yeah, Alejandro isn't going. Shocker. *He grumbles* I have to make sure we lose next time. And now Gwen is in first class… *He pauses* so it'll be harder strategize with her, I mean. **

**Alejandro: Bye, bye Ezekiel. You will be missed, not really, but at least I know now that you won't grow to be nuisance although I did fight for you to stay.**

**Cody: Sucks that Zeke is going to get ousted, I really liked him.**

**Heather: *Shrugs indifferently* Knew he was going to be elimination fodder. But it does make me realize now that since we're going to go back to two teams I really should officially talk to Cody about an alliance. Courtney and Gwen are still too chummy and with Alejandro controlling Tyler like a puppet my options are very limited. Plus *She pauses* out of all the people here, Cody is the least annoyingish. **

**Ezekiel: *He sighs* Well, I knew I wasn't going to make it that far eh. Oh well, at least I'm not feral anymore I guess…**

**Tyler: I feel awful, I offer Zeke an alliance and next thing you know I'm the sole reason he's going to get voted off, this sucks. *He holds up his hands* And how can I continue competing with that guilt over my head. *A look of determination crosses his face*I know what I got to do now.**

**Xxx**

As Chris called for Ezekiel's elimination, Ezekiel himself was surprised of how much came to it. Not much though, just Cody, Tyler and Izzy.

"Now we're gonna be extra careful you don't stowaway this time, kay?" Chris said as he gave the parachute to Zeke.

"Okay." Ezekiel muttered as he looked to the door. Fear gripped him now as he looked to the sky, but he pushed it down in his gut and turned around for his final goodbyes.

"Bye Ezekiel." Cody said. "Say hi to everyone for me okay?"

"Bye My Zeke." Izzy said. "Be back with you in a few days, Izzy still needs to get dropped off by Cheffy and Chris."

Ezekiel nodded to both Cody and Izzy, and he turned to Tyler, who was noticeable silent throughout the whole thing.

"Chris." Tyler suddenly spoke up. Before he continued he turned to Ezekiel and smiled. "I want to volunteer for elimination in place of Ezekiel."

"What!?" Chris, Cody, Ezekiel and Izzy said in unison.

"Yep." Tyler nodded his head. "I can't handle the guilt of single handedly screwing someone over, and not even a million bucks is ever going to change that."

"Woah." Chris looked visible worried now. "No need to act hastily now, this is a million bucks you're throwing away now."

"I know." Tyler nodded, smiling clasping Zeke's shoulder. "And I hope it's one that Zeke's gonna win."

"Tyler?" Ezekiel started as he took the parachute from him.

"Come on Tyler, think about it again, really hard." Chris was almost pleading with him now. "Shouldn't you talk it over with Duncan, Alejandro and Noah first?"

"Oh, I forgot about that, hope they won't be mad at me that I'm ditching them." Tyler shrugged. "Whatever, that still isn't going to make me change my mind."

He walks over to the elimination door now, fear striking him. Extreme skydiving wasn't exactly one of Tyler's favorite sports.

"Bye Ezekiel!" He jumped suddenly, wanting to get it over with. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Soon Tyler's scream though loud at first decreased in volume until it and its owner descended into the Irish earth below.

Ezekiel, obviously, was stunned at what happened. In the great span of two minutes, he was suddenly back into the contest.

"Well, you don't see that every day." Cody spoke up, breaking the silence.

"I know, it's awesome!" Cheered Izzy thrusting up her arms. "You got to another chance at winning Zeke!"

"Yeah, don't rub it in!" Chris spat back a reply, before sulking over back to the cockpit with Chef.

"I don't believe it?" Ezekiel touched himself. "I-I won't let you down Tyler!"

Cody and Izzy both nodded at that, before walking with Ezekiel back to loser class to declare Tyler's elimination and Ezekiel staying in the competition.

To which both formers, although sad with Tyler's departure, were happy about.

Xxx

_Izzy and Cody with Ezekiel told everyone what happened. Most of the Amazon's sans Cody didn't care so much, however Alejandro was a angered, although he did not show it, at his puppet Tyler's departure. Duncan couldn't care less also whilst Noah actually liked it in some way, seeing that with one less member it would be easier for them to lose their next challenge, and get rid of Alejandro._

_However Ezekiel still had one thing on his mind, that he wasn't quite resolved yet…_

**(Confessional Cam)**

**Ezekiel: I'm really glad Tyler offered himself up for me *He looks a bit sad* I'm still sad that he's goon'e, but I'm going to try to honor his wish and try to win this thing, eh. *He looks thoughtfully* Although I still remember that thing Izzy said about Gwen, Noah and Duncan being in an alliance. The way Izzy described the alliance sounded like it was a pretty big deal you knoo'….**

**Maybe I should talk to Izzy about it…**

**(End Cam)**

**Authors Notes: And thus ends Noah's Gambit! Or this chapter of it anyway. Now before I wrap things up I want to cover up a few endnotes**

**[1]- The full song of this is a remixed song of the 'Smile Song' of My Little Pony friendship is Magic. The remix is done by foozongz, and mainly got popular due to the 'Smile HD' youtube video created by Mr. Davie. **

**[2]- the certain pink pony Gwen is referencing is 'Pinkie Pie' one of the main characters in 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'**

**[3]- Yes, that Dave is the same 'Dave' from 'Total Drama Pahkitew Island'**

**[4]- I remember Tyler saying something about a 'Purple meatball' in his elimination episode, so I thought it to be fitting to have some sort of thing like this, in his elimination episode as well.**

**Other than that, I hope you all liked this chapter because a lot of stuff happened in it. Gwoah bonding, Tyler's elimination, Duncan and Gwen both wondering if their relationship can work and, most importantly, Ezekiel discovering the trio's alliance!**

**Only time will tell of what will happen next, so until that time I am ewisko and this has been:**

**NOAH'S GAMBIT!**

**-ewisko**

**Elimination Order: (Everyone who has been eliminated before 'I see London), Sierra, Owen, Tyler.**

**Voting Results: N/A**


	12. Mountain of Memories Part 1

**Authors Notes: Welcome all for the next chronicle in Noah's Gambit. I know it's been a long time coming, heck, it took too long. But I hope this long chapter will make up for it. Before we get to that though, I want to talk a little more about this story's future. **

**This story, whenever it will end, will have a sequel to it. I'm not entirely sure what the name of it will be, but what I am sure of is that it will still center around Noah and some of the 2nd gen and 3rd gen characters of Pahkitew and Revenge with a more emphasis on it being a mystery. **

**In addition to that, for the time being, I have removed Cody from the important characters and replacing him with Duncan. You'll probably see why when this chapter unfolds. **

**I apologize if these author notes may seem staccato and short, but trust me guys, I don't want to say anything that will give anything away yet. So without anyfurther delay: Enjoy the read guys.**

* * *

The Total Drama World Tour Jumbo Jet took off without a hitch after starting its flight to leave Ireland, and it also seemed that the turbulence that the cast and crew felt trying to get there have more or less stopped, due to that large storm the producers warned them about being gone. However due to Tyler's elimination, every contestant onboard the aircraft was once again thinking about strategy, or at the very least how not to get eliminated next time.

Heather was one of them. Drumming her fingers on her arm rest, she was currently trying to find the right words of how to propose to Cody her alliance idea. She was happy now that she was friends with the Tech Geek, but she knew that due to her track record she had to be careful and discreet on how she approached the alliance, to not scare Cody off. However, it seemed at this stage in the game this would be the most opportune time to spring it on him.

Casting a glance behind her, she heard bits and pieces of discussion from Gwen and Courtney, who for all intents and purposes Heather assumed that they would vote for her the first chance that she had. And while Heather would prefer to try to eliminate Gwen first (This was due to the Queen Bee still feeling iffy about the circumstances of Sierra's elimination in Italy, leading her further wondering if the Goth girl had some more skeleton's in her closet that she wasn't aware of) she knew that Cody wouldn't even consider doing business with her if she suggested it. That left Courtney, which was fine by Heather as well, she wasn't fond at all about the C.I.T.

"I wonder where we're going to now…" Cody, who was seated next to Heather in the window's seat, pondered as he looked out the window.

"No clue." Heather admitted. "Asia maybe."

"Good point, the only time we visited Asia so far was in Japan."

"Ugh," Heather grimaced. "I _hated_ that challenge."

"You're telling me, I was thrown into a pinball with Sierra. And I swear that she stole the Lollipop that I stashed in my pocket while we were in there." He grimaced. "I wonder what she did with that…"

"Knowing Sierra, it would probably best if we never knew."

"Agreed." Cody let out a slight chuckle. There was a slight lull in the conversation.

"Cody?" Heather spoke again. Cody turned his head.

"Yeah?"

"Can I… talk to you about something for a second…" Cody noticed that Heather glanced over his shoulders. Gwen and Courtney seemed to be talking a lot, not really noticing anything around them. "Outside."

"Sure Heather." Cody replied, slightly confused at what Heather wanted. Shrugging though, he and the Queen Bee quickly made it outside where Heather led Cody to the cargo hold. Cody noticed that Heather was looking at great lengths if anyone was following them, due to her glancing back constantly and telling Cody that he needed to be quiet. However when they soon gotten into the hold (With Heather making sure that no one was listening through the door) she closed it, allowing Cody to question her.

"So, uh, what did you want to talk about Heather?" Cody asked, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. What made him the most confused is that Heather didn't want to say what she wanted to say to Cody in front of Courtney and Gwen.

"Oh yeah, about that…" Heather twirled a strand of her hair for a second. "I hope you don't take this the wrong way Cody, but I really wanted to talk about strategy and the game."

"Oh." It was at this moment when Cody realized what Heather was going to talk to him, or more or less offer him, about.

"Look," Heather started. "I'm just going to get right down to the point. The merge, if it's not coming this challenge, it's probably going to come this challenge after. The people left in the game are: Courtney, Gwen, Myself, you, Noah, Duncan, _Alejandro-"_Cody noticed Heather grew noticeable annoyed as she said 'Alejandro'. "And Ezekiel. Courtney and Gwen are gunning for me and I know for a fact that when the teams merge Duncan isn't going to try to hesitate to try to vote me off if it comes down to it. And Alejandro I _know_ wants me gone the first chance gets and quite frankly I don't really trust Noah."

"So you want me to join in an alliance with you?" Cody finished.

"Yes," Heather admitted. "You're the only person that I think this could work with, except maybe Ezekiel but after what happened with DJ," She grimaced. "I don't think alliance's with anyone affiliated with Team Victory is going to go over that well."

"I see." Cody rubbed his chin. Honestly Cody wanted to trust Heather. It seemed that her sneaky ways of TDI were gone and she was more or less nice to him. Except that…

"I know what you're thinking Cody." Heather spoke, making Cody grow startled.

"You, you do?"

"It's about Gwen isn't it?" Heather answered. Cody looked side to side for a bit but nodded his head.

"Yeah, I mean, well, you two didn't really get along that well before…"

"Cody." Heather looked into his eyes, as her face grew very serious. "For 2 whole seasons before I lost. In Total Drama Island I got my hair shaved and in Total Drama Action I was a total laughing stock. No one listened to my ideas, even if they knew they were good ones. Everyone treated me like I had the plague, and even though I was the one who easily saw through what Justin was doing in Action, I didn't say anything because I knew no one would believe me. The only person who even gave me a scrap of dignity was Harold, but still when things came down to it he voted me off instead of LeShawna…" Heather shook her head.

"And now this season it's more or less the same, everyone except maybe you and maybe Ezekiel still dosen't trust me," She squinted her eyes. "And I'm not going to let myself get voted off due to my past actions that I'm not even trying to do while those idiots get manipulated by another Justin, only this time this Justin is actually smart, and I hate to say it, scary good. Which is why I promise you Cody, right here and now that I won't try to vote off Gwen unless we're all in the final 3 or whatever and she's the only one left." Heather ended her speech. Cody was wide eyed, he never saw Heather open up to him like that before, and he did indeed trust her.

"Tha-thanks Heather for saying that." Cody smiled. "Okay, I'll join in an alliance with you."

"Yes!" Heather did a mini-fist pump and a little jump in the air. However when she realized what she was doing she quickly masked that with her meanness. "I-mean, glad that you finally see it my way!"

"I do just have one question though-"Cody briefly interjected. "So for the time being, I mean, say if our team loses this round, then we'll both be teaming up to vote off…"

"Courtney." Heather affirmed. "Will that be a problem for you?"

"No-no!" Cody held up his hands in defense. "I'm fine with that! And in all honesty," He started sheepishly. "She's kinda been getting under my skin for some time."

"You and I both." Heather agreed. "Now we should get back to first class before they notice that we were gone." Heather said as she started for the door.

"I doubt it." Cody followed. "Gwen hasn't paid attention to me all season, it's just all Courtney, Courtney, Courtney…" The tech geek mumbled as he followed Heather into first class.

* * *

Duncan let out a yawn, letting it echo all over the cabin. Outwardly, the delinquent by everyone seemed to be feeling normal, he was still maintaining that outward and aloof attitude towards the game ever since he rejoined TDWT, due to him winning last time, and as such, not so inclined as to try as hard to be the victor again.

Duncan's eyes hardened for a moment. He really wanted to try to steal a parachute or something and hop off the plane again. Sure Chris would most likely try to capture him again, but truth be told Duncan kind of liked that. He loved being a sort of criminal again on the run, not trying to be seen and living off the lamb. Duncan even remembered back in Spain, one of the countries he was hiding out in, that the network put out wanted posters for Duncan, him and Ezekiel, with reward money if anyone could find him and deliver him to Chris. That was what Duncan loved, the crisp outside air and the unknowingness of the future. Now he was in a cramped airplane with stale air, and knowledge of the foreseeable future.

He'd either win the money, which in all honesty Duncan didn't think that he could, or he would be eliminated and sent to another Playa Des Losers where he'd have to stay until the third season would finish, where he'd be finally released from the shackles of Chris Mclean.

Hopefully.

_But wait, why can't I do it?_

Duncan's eyes widened as his brain suddenly accelerated in thought process. He knew where the parachutes were and the cockpit door wasn't that hard to open. If he was quiet, he could easily go and swipe a parachute and jump off the plane again. He also knew from a fact that Chef was flying over land, so he wouldn't even drown…

Duncan was about to go through with that impulsive plan to, to suddenly dash off to the elimination area, to quickly put on a parachute, open the door, flip the bird to the camera and jump off, but that was until he was reminded of Gwen, and the metaphorical shackles he was put in from her and Noah.

That rush of feelings he felt after that night in London, while still there, lingering, wasn't as powerful as they used to be. And Duncan, before with the intentions to kiss her, had thought that Gwen would have more of a free spirit, and wouldn't really care that what they did was technically wrong. And sure, Duncan had to acknowledge that fact that he should have broken up with Courtney beforehand, but he didn't think that Gwen would care so much about what people thought of her, especially to the point where she'd get voluntarily blackmailed by some little shit, who by sheer chance witnessed what they did.

Duncan sighed, and for what? It wasn't for Duncan to win the money, he didn't give a crap about that? Was it for Gwen to win? Hell, Duncan would give Gwen all of his winnings from the past season, every cent of it, he didn't care about that either. Money meant nothing to Duncan. And besides, couldn't Gwen see that this alliance was doing more harm than good? They already eliminated Sierra due to this, someone who Duncan sure as hell didn't give a crap about but Gwen certainly felt guilty about that. And Owen's, while Duncan didn't know how, had a hunch that his elimination was somehow connected to what Duncan and Gwen and Noah were up too, and that was someone who Duncan actually liked. Yeah they'd be under fire if they both came out with it, but wouldn't it be better than be wrapped around Noah's thumb?

Duncan cast a glance at the bookworm, who was sitting on the bench opposite from him, reading a book. Duncan also noticed Ezekiel next to him, but he didn't notice the worried expression which was on the prairie boy's face.

"Whatever," Duncan grunted as he stood up, making his way to the john. He needed some quiet time to think on what to do.

However the blackmailer was fully certain on his next move in the game of chess now. Noah closed the book he was reading, a narrative chronicling Abraham Lincoln's presidency by Gore Vidal entitled _Lincoln_. Not only was the book a good read thus far, but in turn gave Noah a bit of insight on what to do next, as Tyler's elimination changed a bit the battleground Noah was faced with now.

Where Noah read up to now, Seward and Chase, who were both Lincoln's secretary of state and secretary of treasury respectively, had just convinced Cameron, Lincoln's secretary of war, to take Lincoln's request on him being the new minister to Russia. This was part of an earlier move that Seward made, him suggesting to Lincoln that since Cameron was more of a thorn in there side at this point, that they should just send him off to Russia, to which Lincoln agreed.

Tyler, wasn't all that different from Cameron in that perspective.

Both were a thorn to their side, and both considering the conflict that Noah and Lincoln was in, wasn't that useful right now. Lincoln named Cameron secretary of War before the Civil War happened, but with the outbreak of the war, Lincoln realized that Cameron's notable untrustworthiness and admittedly bad public image wouldn't be good for his goals. This was not unlike Noah, who in all honesty didn't mind Tyler, but due to his easily persuading personality, he could be another vote for Alejandro, someone who Noah didn't want to have any more power than he already had. Like Cameron's departure to the Czar of Russia, maybe it wasn't so bad that Tyler decided to call it quits and went home to Canada…

Now all Noah would have to do is hopefully lose this challenge, and he and Duncan can be finally be rid of the Latino in a 2-1 vote, with no chance of a tiebreaker.

"I suspect that this is going to be a reward challenge…" Alejandro whistled aloud, to no one in particular, although Noah suspected that Alejandro wanted to damper on Noah's sudden parade that was Tyler's departure. Which in all honesty, he succeeded in doing. Noah forgot about reward challenges.

"You're probably right." Noah burrowed his head in his book, trying to mask his disappointed face. "I have a feeling Chris will try to give us one more challenge before we merge."

"Ah, yes the merge…" Alejandro seemed to chuckle. "To be quite honest I never thought it possible that I would get this far."

"Really?" Noah asked, raising his eyebrow.

"Oh yes, you know being the new competitor and all I thought when elimination would eventually come to us, you all would naturally pick me, considering you all knew me the least." Alejandro replied, before showing a smirk. "But I suppose I was a bit over estimating my competition…"

Noah chose to ignore that, and Ezekiel seemed like he was to wrapped up in something he was thinking about to even hear what Alejandro was saying. However then Noah chose to counter back.

"I also think that I underestimated the stupidity of some of the people here…" Noah replied, thinking about Owen's cluelessness of Alejandro for half of the game, plus DJ's nativity about his so called curse.

It was odd, Noah thought. How even both Alejandro and himself both knew they hated each other, and knew that one another was up to something, that they would keep up still pseudo-acting like none was the wiser to each other. However behind each other's back each were planning secretly their own moves of each other's downfall. Again, like Lincoln's cabinet…

While Noah and Alejandro continued their mental game of chess, none noticed that Ezekiel quietly got up and scurried over to the restroom, still deep in thought and worry.

* * *

As Ezekiel quietly walked down the halls of the plane, on his way to the confessional. Still not knowing what exactly to do with his newfound knowledge of the Noah-Gwen-Duncan alliance, he sincerely wished that Izzy was still in the game with him, or at least, could tell him what to do at this point. Morally, Ezekiel was a bit offended that Duncan cheated on Courtney, but he also respected the privacy of what he did, and wouldn't say anything of it, unless someone asked him too which in that case, Ezekiel would have to say. He couldn't lie.

As Ezekiel approached the confessional, he saw that Duncan emerged from it, with a determined look flashing on his face.

"Uh, hello." Ezekiel greeted meekly. Duncan turned his head to Ezekiel, at first a bit startled but shrugged his shoulders and nodded back at him, as sort of a nonverbal reply of sorts. Ezekiel was about to sidestep past Duncan to the door, until that is the plane seemed to lurch violently forward, causing both Ezekiel and Duncan to fall on the floor.

"Damn it, Chef!" Duncan cursed loudly as he tried to get back up.

However another, more violent lurch forward, caused the delinquent to fall flat on his arse once again.

"Uh-uh, what's happening, eh?" Ezekiel asked, a bit frightened now.

"Chef's probably boozed up his ass, that's what." Duncan rubbed his groggy head. "Or Chris, or whoever the hell is flying."

Ezekiel was about to ask what the term 'booze' meant until yet another violent lurch, this time backwards, causing Ezekiel and Duncan to roll right into each other. Ezekiel blinked his eyes open and felt the floor under him rumbling now.

Ezekiel's eyes widened, clutching the floor in fear. Duncan too seemed greatly worried, as it seemed like the plane was riding through a hurricane of sorts. Neither spoke a word, as each of them heard powerful blasts and gusts of wind some outside the plane.

As if Ezekiel was in some sort of dream, the floor he was on suddenly fell, causing both him and Duncan too be free falling out of the plane a break neck speed.

From one second to the next, Ezekiel was falling out of the plane.

Everything was a blur, with Ezekiel flailing all around and yelling, and Duncan cursing loudly and flailing as well. Ezekiel didn't realize it at the time, but it seemed that plane, cast, and crew disappeared, leaving only him and Duncan to fall helplessly down.

Wide eyed, both teens looked downwards to see they were above an island now, far away from the large land that Duncan predicted they were flying over earlier. Duncan also could see for a split second that there was a large chunk of metal, presumably from the plane that was falling beside him, again, Duncan didn't think it odd that this was the only part of the plane still here. Looking downward, the delinquent quickly deduced that he and Ezekiel would surely perish if they smack down on the lone island.

Hard adrenaline coursing through his veins, Duncan quickly snatched Ezekiel's arm and with one swift kick from both of his legs, propelled the both of them from the large metal object that they were falling with, causing them to be pushed over, away from the Island. This quick act allowed Ezekiel to not fall on the island, but on the blue ocean near it.

**SMACK**

* * *

_Duncan was floating into a deep void, with no ground below him and no gravity to pull him down to said nonexistent ground. It also seemed that no color was present in the stasis he was in, with his skin, clothing, and most prominently, hair not having any color except black or white. _

_As Duncan was floating around in this void, the delinquent suddenly saw 4 distinct faces, all huge sized floating around him. Their names were… Sierra, Owen, Courtney and Gwen!_

"_How could you do such a thing?!" The Sierra faced gawked at him. "You cheated on Gwen and got me eliminated!"_

_Duncan, a bit taken aback by Sierra, her being a floating head in all, scoffed back. "Don't blame me, blame Noah…"_

"_Hey Duncan!" The Owen face, more boisterous, greeted. Duncan, for some reason, had a pang of guilt rush over his body as Owen greeted him, the only person that he liked in the game who Duncan inadvertently helped eliminate. "Yeah all fines over here back at the resort, I can eat all this food!" The Owen face happily declared. _

"_You idiot!" _

_Duncan turned around to see the Courtney face, fuming at him. "How could you do this to me!? You could have very easily told me that you wanted to end it before you went to Gwen!" _

"_Fine!" Duncan roared. "I already knew that!" But he didn't want Courtney to win so easily. "That dosen't excuse you for being a good for nothing contract loving bitch!" _

"_Duncan!" _

_Duncan's head turned and laid his eyes on the final head, Gwen. However her face seemed different, as upon further inspection, Duncan could see that Noah, not as a face but in normal form, floating next to Gwen's head. "We have to keep this a secret remember, I just don't know…"_

"_You don't have to do what he says Gwen!" Duncan yelled, indicating to Noah also. "Everyone at home knows already!" _

_Gwen's face shook her head no as a response to Duncan, causing the dream Noah to smirk. That's where Duncan lost it. _

"_WHY YOU LITTLE!" Duncan lunged forward and tried to punch Noah, however Noah seemed to dodge him. Duncan kept swinging, punches, kicks, thrusts, however it seemed that the athletic delinquent couldn't catch up with the not athletic nerd. He could never do what he wanted with that guy around, controlling everything. _

_Who to vote for, flashes of Sierra and Owen, most of Owen, appeared again. _

_Whether to try, flashes of memories of Noah telling Duncan to lose on purpose flooded through. _

_When he could see Gwen, flashes of memories of Noah telling Duncan when he was 'allowed' to see his girlfriend, in fear of anyone finding out. _

_Gwen…_

_Was she worth all of this?_

* * *

"Duncan!" Gwen said loudly to the unconscious delinquent. Suddenly, this snapped Duncan back into focus, as he quickly fluttered his eyes open sat up, almost knocking Gwen's head with his. Before anyone said anything, he rubbed his eyes for a brief moment, with his first sight seeing the vast blue ocean in front of him, and the yellow sand that was sitting on.

Turning around he could see Noah standing up, a bit far away from them with an unconcerned look on his face, and Ezekiel, who was lying on the ground. Duncan could hear Ezekiel panting, softly.

"Where the hell…" Duncan started to inquire, taking another gaze around.

"We don't know." Gwen said. "The last thing I could remember was talking to Courtney on the plane, then... I just found myself unconscious on the beach with Noah."

"Oh," Duncan's face flashed with a look of annoyance and agitation at the mere mention of the name. "_He's here."_

"And I'm as thrilled about that as you are." Noah quipped back, not even turning to face Duncan. Duncan rolled his eyes before landing them on Ezekiel, who was still lying on the beach out of breath. "And I assume prairie boy woke up with you two here as well?"

"Actually, no." Noah shook his head. "I would explain it to you, but since you were there, you should have known what happened."

"Well if I did remember than why would I be asking' you?" Duncan snapped back, a bit more forcefully than he meant.

"Duncan," Gwen started, trying to quell the sudden argument. "About a few seconds ago we saw Ezekiel swimming with you on his back, unconscious, and when Ezekiel brought you to land, he simply fell on his back. Ezekiel saved your life."

Duncan's eyes widened. Now he remembered. How the plane seemed to vanish, how he and Zeke were falling from the sky, and how Duncan pulled him and Zeke from that metal thing so they wouldn't smack down on the island. What he didn't remember was Ezekiel swimming with him on his back, which Duncan chalked up to him having that stupid dream…

"He saved my ass…" Duncan looked at Ezekiel again, no visible muscles, the kid didn't look like anything that related to athleticism. He was even underweight due to how much time he was spent up in cargo…

Duncan shook his head, but stood up and walked towards Ezekiel, startling Gwen a bit. Ezekiel peered his eyes open, as Duncan stood over him. No one knew what either one was going to do for a moment, until Duncan rubbed the back of his neck with one hand and offered him his other hand. "Uh, thanks for saving me."

Ezekiel stared at the hand for a moment, but then shook it and stood up. "Yoo'r welcome, eh, I mean, yoo' did save mine tooo' when we were falling."

"Excuse me?" Noah's left eyebrow raised, now walking towards the group. "What 'falling?'"

Ezekiel told Noah and Gwen everything about what happened, up to the exact detail.

"So the plane… disappeared?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, eh." Ezekiel nodded his head, still noticeable shaken by the event. Noah seemed to narrow his eyes.

"This complicates things, what Gwen and I assumed was that Chris might have drugged us and put us here, but if you too both remember that the plane disappeared…" Noah shook his head yet again. "It doesn't add up, if what you say was true, than Gwen and I should have fell at Mach speed and died as soon as we hit the sand."

"You calling him a liar?" Duncan suddenly got defensive. Noah was about to offer an insult in return concerning Courtney, but he realized that Ezekiel was with him and quickly caught himself. Plus he didn't want it to seem that he was ragging on Gwen.

"Let me get to that." Noah answered. "But what I am saying is that something certainly does not add up. I saw you and Ezekiel moments before you say that you two met up in the hallway, so that would mean that the plane would have had to, as you put it, 'disappear' at the very most," Noah stopped and turned his head to Ezekiel.

"How long were you carrying Duncan…"

"About four or five minutes eh."

"So the plane would have had to disappear at the most 5 minutes ago."

"Your point." Duncan was getting impatient.

"I'm saying that Chris would have had no time to drug Gwen or myself during that 5 minute period, and put us here on the beach, and from the time on my watch-"He showed both Duncan and Ezekiel it. "-From the last time both myself and Gwen remember it was 9:00 AM, now it's 3:00 PM, that's 6 hours."

"Boo't that isn't 5 minutes…" Ezekiel said wide eyed.

"Yes, that means that you and Duncan are _lying."_

Silence came for a few moments at the three other castaways took this information in. Duncan was the first to break it.

"Why the hell would we lie?!"

"I don't know." Noah said flatly. "But I know from math that you and he are."

"Oh yeah, well, well…" Duncan snapped his fingers. "How do we know that you aren't lying?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, you could have just messed with your watch and lied to us that 6 hours passed until you woke up!" Duncan declared. Noah shook his head.

"I concede that it would be possible to change my watch, but that doesn't account for the fact that you two said that you walked up a few minutes before and seeing me before the plane disappeared, Gwen or I couldn't have set this up in time, much less blow up the plane and get out." Noah calmly answered. "You're lying."

"Noah, stop." Gwen interrupted, sternly. "You can't go just blindly accusing them."

"Blindly?" Noah's right eyebrow quirked, his voice raising a bit as well. "Gwen, I'm simply stating facts and forming my opinions from them."

"But they're still so much that we don't know about what happened. Like what Island we are on for instance, this is probably just some elaborate thing Chris set up." Gwen tried to put the pieces together, in her head.

"Oh and I have no doubt about that." He frowned. "I also think that it is a very likely possibility that they may be in on this with Chris."

"What!" Duncan roared.

"Chris could have put you up to it, you and Ezekiel."

"Come on Noah, I mean what would you he would even want them to do anyway?" Gwen asked, not quite sure what to believe anymore.

"Lead us on a wild goose chase perhaps? How am I supposed to know, but what I do know is that it's a distinct possibility that they could be working for him right now." Noah shook his head. "To be honest I'm as shocked as you are, Gwen. Especially considering I thought that we all had an _understanding here."_ Noah directed that explicitly at Duncan.

Duncan's eyes widened at that, and a metaphorical snap occurred in his brain. Floodgates parted from the delinquent's mind, the floodgates that he was restricting himself to make it work with Gwen was broken. Just like the metaphorical dam Duncan built up in his mind to make Courtney happy, it eventually broke with it.

Duncan was done.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no…" Duncan shook his head and grabbed his skull as he walked away from them. "That's it, I don't care anymore."

"Duncan?" Gwen spoke up, looking towards him as he started to make way into the jungle. Duncan stopped, upon hearing Gwen's voice.

"I'm sorry Gwen, but I can't deal with Noah anymore with this shit. I'm done." He breathed in heavily. "And when you regain your senses and finally realize that Noah's a fucking prick than you know where to find me, but from now on I'm not going to do what Noah says just because of what he saw. I don't care anymore, I never cared about the competition, and you knew that. But I'm done putting my life on hold just because you're guilty about something that you shouldn't even be guilty about. I'm done."

Duncan continued to walk, leaving Gwen, and even Noah, speechless. In the forest before he stopped again for a moment.

"Ezekiel!"

Ezekiel, who had been silent til now, cocked his head up towards Duncan. "If I were you I'd split from Noah the first chance you get, he doesn't trust you and frankly," Duncan paused and turned his head, casting a final glance at Noah. "The runt's going to slow you down anyway."

And with that, Duncan was gone.

* * *

All was quiet for a few moments, the few moments after the trio watched Duncan leave. Noah closed his eyes and sighed. This is what he was afraid of. He knew sooner or later Duncan would snap, and Noah was hoping for the 'later' was after he sent Alejandro home. Now if it came down to a vote, Duncan would vote for Noah no contest.

Gwen herself was thinking about Duncan. A mixture of emotions were scurrying inside her now, festering into a lump in her throat.

And Ezekiel himself was thinking of what he should do at this moment. He wanted to leave, at least he thought he wanted too, but he knew that in survival situations that larger numbers were better. However Duncan was right, even if he were to tag along Gwen and Noah, they wouldn't trust him to do anything. He'd just be watched, like an _animal_.

Although Ezekiel did remember that going along with Duncan is a possibility. He couldn't be too far off, and truth be told after what had just happened, Ezekiel did trust Duncan more than he trusted Noah or Gwen at the moment…

He looked over towards Noah and Gwen, who started walking together towards the jungle, away from Ezekiel. They clearly didn't want him.

Ezekiel, without even saying goodbye, rushed in the jungle to find Duncan.

* * *

Gwen and Noah walked side by side, neither saying a word. As each pair of feet left the yellow sand and onto the brown dirt of the jungle of the island, both pondered what to do next, and what to say to each other. Noah certainly had no idea what to say, and neither did Gwen…

"Ezekiel… he left." Gwen spoke up, her voice noticeable shaky.

"Did he now…" Noah replied. "He probably went towards the direction Duncan was heading."

Silence again.

"Look, Gwen." Noah began. "I'm going to be completely honest with you, as it seems like this, well, _alliance_ that we had is more or less not here anymore. If you sincerely want to continue this _thing_ with Duncan, or for him not telling anyone about it, I would try to catch up with him, because if he could might as well tell Ezekiel everything if he asks…"

Gwen looked at Noah, a sudden look. She would have thought that in this situation Noah would try to persuade her to get Duncan back into the alliance, and to tell her once again that Alejandro would dominate the game if they don't work together to take him out.

"I'm not going to tell anyone about what happened in the confessional unless you choose too, or, no, that's not what I meant, if you give me consent to do it and if there was a scenario which that information may be used to the advantage I won't." Noah ended. "Duncan's too strong willed to listen to whatever I say anymore, and I'm not going to keep you tied to a leash because of that."

Gwen continued to look at Noah, surprised at what he was saying.

She was officially not blackmailed anymore.

"What about Alejandro?" Gwen asked. Noah at that sighed and shook his head.

"I fully intend to get rid of Alejandro the first chance I get, but right now I have not the means to do so. Duncan is going to vote for me the first chance he gets, and I know for a fact Alejandro would happily assist him in it." He stared at the ground for a moment. "Assuming this is still in the pre-merger, and my team loses, I'm done for_. I have to forget about Alejandro for now_, and focus on getting my team to win."

Gwen noticed that as Noah was explaining to it, she almost felt shame in his voice. As if not getting rid of Alejandro by this time was a great embarrassment. Noah looked… well sad. Gwen never saw that side of him before…

"Well I guess I should be going then," Noah snapped Gwen back from her thoughts, as he started to walk away from her.

"Whe-Where are you going?" Gwen asked, a bit confused.

"To try to win the challenge." Noah answered back. "I have no idea where Alejandro is right now and with Duncan dicking around with Ezekiel I got to make sure we come in at least second place, and well…" Noah's voice grew soft for a moment. "I would assume you want to try to help your team…"

"Oh." Gwen replied, realizing what Noah was getting at. With this alliance and disbanded Noah and Gwen were back to nothing more than acquaintances at odds on separate teams. Or were they…

To be completely honest, Gwen didn't want Noah to go, for a lot of reasons that she couldn't exactly pin point, though the prominent one that she felt was that the usually strong willed Goth felt a bit hurt right now after what Duncan had told to her. Plus, despite the blackmail, Gwen had honestly grown a liking of Noah. And with Gwen's guilt about Courtney and now with her and Duncan's recent pseudo breakup/argument, Noah seemed like the only person left on the show that she could talk to still, that she could think of.

"I still don't think that's a good idea, Noah." Gwen fumbled with her words. "We both don't know where we are, or if this is even a challenge…"

"I assume it is." Noah reassured, a bit too bluntly. His eyes widened, finally realizing what Gwen was getting at. "But I understand what you're saying. We should still try to stick together, at least for the time being, safer in numbers."

Gwen smiled at that, not as big of a grin or as small as a smirk, but a smile all the same. Immediately seeing the rush of the emotions that Noah was trying to so desperately repressed sprang up for a second, until the next second where he carefully built the dam back into his mind that was holding in the well of his thoughts. And like all the times he had those thoughts, the anecdote of dispelling them quickly was, factual, emotionless, thought.

"All right, so where do you think we should go?" Noah asked.

"Near to that large hill I'd say." Gwen pointed behind Noah to that fairly large hill that was in the center of the island "Sounds like a plan." Noah nodded. And with that, the two proceeded to implement it.

* * *

"Damn it." Duncan cursed aloud, a bit louder than he had meant to as his leg accidentally brushed up against a small sticker bush that was beside him. The tropical jungle that Duncan was currently traversing through seemed more like a dense forest than the jungle that he had saw when they were all on the beach.

When he was on the beach with Gwen and…_him._

"Damn!" Duncan yelled as he tripped over a rock, which was conveniently placed right in front of his feet. Growling from rage and slight pain, Duncan blinked his eyes open and for some odd reason the leaves that were under him seemed to be in the shape of a face with a smirk.

Noah.

Duncan remembering his dream once before with the bookworm, curled his fists in rage, his fingers going deep into the dirt, making his knuckles go white. Rage brimmed inside Duncan's mind as the thoughts he was trying to suppress for Gwen continued to pour out.

Why did Noah have to see!

If he didn't see it all Gwen wouldn't care!

He wouldn't have made us get rid of Sierra! And Owen wouldn't have gone!

He's ruining this for me!

He's turning Gwen into _Courtney!_

The if's raced through Duncan's mind, all directed at the bookworm. Pure, unbridled rage was beginning to surface now. Duncan, not controlling himself, picked up a rock from the ground and stood up, preparing to throw it in sheer anger in the opposite direction. Perhaps it would hit Noah clear in the head…

"Doon't hit me!"

Another person's voice seemed to bring the delinquent back into reality, back from his thoughts of anger. Staring, he could see that he was just about to hit Ezekiel, still shielding himself with his hands. Duncan quickly chucked in downward, realizing some, but not, of all his anger. "Ezekiel?"

"Ooom, hi Duncan." Ezekiel stopped shielding himself, although he was still a little shaky. "Uum, sorry if I scared you."

"You didn't scare me." Duncan snapped back, a bit too forceful than he meant to. His voice still retained the anger he had from Noah in it.

"O-okay." Ezekiel nodded, still a bit fearful.

Awkward nothingness stewed for a moment. Clearly Ezekiel was waiting for what Duncan was going to say next, and when the delinquent realized that, he made the next move.

"Why were you following me?" Duncan asked, anger still visible in his voice.

"Ooom, well, I was joo'st, oomf…" Ezekiel scratched his toque awkwardly. "I thought I'd, ooom, follow you cuz, ooom, because you told me not to follow Noah and Gwen-"

"That didn't mean that you should follow me either."

"I know!" Ezekiel stood up straighter now. "I joo'st, yoo' knoo', since we both don't knoo' anything aboo't where we are… is it okay that I work with yoo'?"

Duncan's eyebrows quirked at the question, as he seemed to loom over the prairie boy. He was about to consider it, before the irritation of his sudden past experience on the beach clouded his judgement.

"I ain't exactly a 'working together' kind of person, Ezekiel." Duncan said in a low voice, hoping Ezekiel would get the message. Apparently, the sheltered prairie boy did.

"Oh okay, oom, that's fine, I'll joo'st go then, have a good day Dunc-OW!" Ezekiel, when turning around from Duncan, accidentally smacked his head into a tree branch, causing him to stumble and fall. "Oooh, darn it…" Ezekiel rubbed his head. Looking down at him, the clouds in Duncan's judgement parted and offered his hand to Ezekiel like he did once before on the beach. Similarly to that event, Ezekiel took it and stood up.

"Actually, Zeke." Duncan shrugged his shoulders, pretending not to care either way. "I think that we should go together. You're right that we don't know where the hell we are and back when I was in the final four, I know firsthand that splitting up ain't a good idea **[2]**."

"Oh, ooom, okay Duncan." Ezekiel replied, smiling "Thank yoo'."

"Er, don't mention it." Duncan shrugged again. He actually kind of liked Ezekiel. "Any ideas we should head?"

"The mountain, I think." Ezekiel pointed to the mountain, which Duncan would have more have classified as a large hill that was in the center of the island.

"Eh, sure." Duncan replied. And soon, the new duo made towards it.

* * *

For 30 minutes, Noah and Gwen were still advancing to the center of the island. It was odd, they haven't encountered any other people, or animals for that manner, and despite the tropical climate that they were in, the flora seemed more akin to the Canadian wilderness back on Camp Wawwanakwa…

"Noah," Gwen began as she hopped over a small fallen tree. "Do you still think that Duncan and Ezekiel lied?"

A strange question, Noah thought. "Of course I do, there story just doesn't make sense. How could a plane just simply 'vanish' in thin air?"

"So you think that they're working with Chris?"

"It's the only explanation I could come up with." Noah affirmed. "What probably happened was that Chris drugged all of us, put us in some remote location, and is probably using Duncan and Ezekiel as to mess with all of us from competing the challenge." He turned his head to Gwen. "Do you not believe that?" Gwen took a second before responding.

"Honestly, I don't."

…

"Care to explain why?"

"Back at the beach, when Duncan was yelling at us, I… could just tell he wasn't lying." Gwen ended her sentence quickly. "His anger, his confusion… there's no way Duncan could have faked that."

"Well maybe Duncan's a better actor than you previously thought. Remember that acting challenge a season ago, correct me if I'm wrong but he did win it." Noah replied. Gwen shook her head.

"That was different-"

"And how so?"

"It was just… _different_ okay, I can't really explain it but I can tell when Duncan was acting and back there he wasn't. I could sense it."

"Sense it?" Noah's left eyebrow rose as a smirk formed on his face. "Well if you could _sense_ it than of course it's true. Like how Izzy sensed that Chef was just a robot built by the Norwegian Mafia or how she could sense that Justin was part Alligator or…"

"Noah, I'm serious." Gwen's tone of voice immediately changed. "Don't patronize me."

Noah looked at Gwen's eyes for a second, and upon seeing those fierce circles he knew that Gwen 100% believed Duncan. However Noah was still on the wary side of things, but he resolved himself not to press the issue.

"Fine, I'll concede that it is a possibility that Duncan may not be lying but I don't believe it, yet I won't press it." Noah ended. Gwen nodded back in acceptance and the duo walked on. Although that gave Noah further thoughts about the delinquent as a whole. He still fully thought with 110% certainty that the delinquent was lying, he had to be. But still, like Gwen said, Duncan's anger on the beach looked very real, it'd be hard for anyone to fake an emotion like that…

"We're here." Gwen suddenly said, pointing upwards, pulling Noah back to reality. Noah looked up to and saw the large, mountainous hill that jutted out of the center of the island. Noah, looking directly in front of him now, could see that a small pathway seemed to lead up the hill. And the way the path looked, it felt that someone must have cleared out some leaves or trees to make it. Another person perhaps…

"A sign?" Noah turned his head and saw Gwen, looking at a near tree. There was a small wooden signed attached to it.

"From Chris I presume?" Noah asked, as he looked at the pathway again, and to the mountain as a whole.

"_Here lies the mountain of memories, though many real, few derive from truth. Climbing higher will only lead you farther astray, staying down here will only lead you to sink and decay. Yet with lies once perceived as truly those things, look through a different angle, and you'll see that you were a fool. And a word of warning, the water shall dispel you from this realm." _

As Gwen repeated the lines from the sign, it seemed that a great chilling wind breezed through the island, hitting Gwen and Noah in the back of their necks, chilling their entire bodies. For a brief moment, Noah felt a twinge of fear, which was stupid, there was nothing to be remotely afraid of. But the feeling lingered all the same.

"Anything else?" Noah blinked, trying to get the feeling out of his being. Gwen seemed to gulp.

"_And as original plans may fade, new plans commence. From the shrewd __**gambit**__ will awaken an equally effective operation. Which will enlighten the three who put it in motion." _

As Gwen finished reading the sign, silence fell on both teens. Noah's eyes seem to widen as he tried to interpret the message.

_Yet with lies once perceived as truly those things, look through a different angle, and you'll see that you were a fool._

That couldn't have been a coincidence, finding that sign a few moments after he and Gwen discussing if Duncan was lying or not. And the other words:

_Which will enlighten the three who put it in motion_

What three was the sign referring too? The 'gambit' that the sign said? Three who put together some sort of gambit?

Noah racked his brain, trying to think of anything that happened in history or fictional media that involved three people putting together some sort of gambit, and he couldn't really think of anything that fit the bill.

"Noah."

Again Gwen had to save Noah from his thoughts. "Do you want to climb it?"

Noah pursed his lips, weighing his options. Honestly hiking up a steep a large hill wasn't exactly high on Noah's 'what I want to do today' list. Although neither was waiting at the bottom and accomplishing nothing…

"I don't want to but I think we should, Chris is probably up there waiting for us anyway." Noah answered.

"I agree." Gwen replied looking upwards, trying to take the whole structure. "It dosen't look like a mountain though, I wonder why the sign called it that."

"Chris, or whoever wrote the sign, probably chose mountain for more dramatic effect." Noah deduced as he started walking up the path.

"Yeah," Gwen quickly caught up to Noah. "Probably."

* * *

Alejandro's eyes blinked themselves awake. Looking straight upwards, he could see that he was looking at a brown rocky ceiling, with stalactites, or stalagmites, Alejandro forgot which one was which, hung from the ceiling. Sitting up, the Arch Villain could see that he was in a cave, only the outside looked to not have a ground.

Puzzled, he walked over and saw that his eyes were not fooling him, and he was indeed correct. There was no ground outside of the cave. Sticking his head out and looking upwards, he could see that that he wasn't in a cave at all, but in a major indentation of some mountain. Turning back to the cave, Alejandro rubbed his eyes with one hand, trying to sort this out.

The Latino's last memory was him sitting idly by himself… at… yes 9:00 Alejandro remembered distinctly. And now he was here?

"Chris…" Alejandro breathed with agitation. "This is most likely his doing."

"Huh?" Alejandro glanced to the side, and to a bit of surprise saw Courtney, now sitting up, rubbing her eyes. Opening her eyes finally, she laid them on Alejandro, and then to the entire structure she was in, face looking very confused. "Where are we?"

"A very good question." Alejandro replied, trying to turn on that Burromeurto charm. "Sadly I don't have the answer to it. Although I suspect that this is our hosts doing for a challenge of some sort." Alejandro explained. "Your last memory was in the morning correct, at nine o clock?"

"Actually, yes." Courtney began to stand up now, although still a little groggy. "I was talking with Gwen up in first class." Her eyes hardened now. "I swear, if that guy drugged me I'm going to sue the crap outta him!"

Alejandro chuckled, at that, not of what Courtney said, but of the situation he was put in at the moment. Alejandro did have plans in the future for further manipulating Courtney to be a good ally for him, a better ally than Tyler could ever be. Her sudden breakup with Duncan led her to be more emotionally volatile than she usually was, leading to ripe manipulation. She was also a strong competitor, and had equally, if not more so, strong ties to the competitors. Yes, if he could get Courtney under his belt, than no doubt Gwen would also follow, due to their budding friendship. And why stop at that! Gwen could probably get that geek Cody to join as well, considering how lovestruck the Tech Geek was over her.

Alejandro seemed to smile to himself, a devious plan forming in his mind.

And with those three under Alejandro's control, he could lead a grand alliance to dispose of Heather, a common enemy of the three, and someone who Courtney would love to see eliminated at this point in time, Duncan! Once they were eliminated, Alejandro didn't even need to worry about Noah becoming a threat, like he did so before. With that numbers advantage he would _destroy_ Noah, and squash Ezekiel while he was at it! Than with his oratory skills he could pit the remaining three against one another, until they all fell under his boots. Than Alejandro would be crowned undisputed champion of Total Drama World Tour!

"Hello, _Alejandro?"_ Courtney spoke, irritation in her voice. Alejandro suddenly snapped back into focus. He couldn't day dream now, not when an opportunity of victory was delivered to him so swiftly, and onto a silver platter no less? The Key to victory was Courtney.

"Oh, I'm sorry Courtney, I was daydreaming for a moment." Alejandro replied. "You were saying?" Courtney gave Alejandro an annoyed look but spoke.

"I see a door over there." Courtney pointed to an orange colored door towards the back of the cave. Alejandro, said no words and simply nodded. As the two approached and inspecting it, they could find that the door had no knob, and it was impossible to open it.

"Great, of course it couldn't be that simple." Courtney shook her head.

"I think it very well may be." Alejandro motioned Courtney to come closer to him. At first Courtney jutting out of the wall, with two testubes in them. Both were pure white in color, and above them lay a small placard like sign. The print was so small that even Alejandro had to lean in to discern it.

_The path will appear once one volunteers there mind to the unpleasant. _

_White will ingest into Black, just as light into darkness._

_One must come before the other. _

Alejandro's eyes narrowed as he tried to decipher the message. "I thinks this text suggests that one of us needs to drink this liquid and experience some sort of…" Alejandro struggled to find the right words. "_memory_ or _emotional trigger _of some kind for this door to open."

Courtney, hearing Alejandro's words, looked a bit confused for a moment, but then shook her head. "Whatever it is, I'm not drinking that, Chris probably drugged it or something."

"Are you positive, senorita?"

"100%." Courtney held her nose up high in the air, eyes closed.

"Well, that's quite all right, I can drink it then."

Courtney's eyes immediately opened at that. "What?"

"Do not worry, I can ingest this." Alejandro repeated again as he proceeded to pick up the vile. It was weird, it seemed that Alejandro had little control of himself as he picked up the vile. Under normal circumstances, he would have sided with Courtney with it and not drinking the vile, as Chris most definitely drugged the serum. However, Alejandro knew that if the door should be open that way, he needed to do this. Sacrificing himself for Courtney, that would go a long way.

Hiding fear of what will come next with a Smirk, the Latino opened his mouth and immediately poured the white liquid into his mouth.

At first, everything was fine. Alejandro looked at Courtney's face again, and smiled. This is nothing, he could handle this, he could handle….

Almost immediately Alejandro felt a major force pushing down on him, buckling his knees until he fell on them. His vision got distorted too, so distorted in fact that he couldn't see Courtney trying to kneel down and help him up. The brown colors of the cave seemed to metamorphosis themselves into hues of purple and black with distinct whites glazed throughout. Light also seemed refracted, with equal distortion, almost as if Alejandro was looking through a murky pond.

Alejandro, holding up his hands so he could see them seemed to be gigantic purple blobs, void of the once smooth and brown texture that the Latino once had.

Alejandro now fell on his back, eyes staring directly at the ceiling. Instead of the voice of Courtney trying to wake him back up, they were replaced with a familiar voice from Alejandro's past. The sound was a mixture between a maniacal cackle and a dark and subtle chuckle. Equally like it, when Courtney put her face over Alejandro, it was replaced by an older looking Latino, one that Alejandro knew all too well.

"_Nighty, night, Al…"_

* * *

Heather hated walking. She also hated the feeling of total confusion, the feeling when you get when you 100% have no clue what's going on.

About 30 minutes or go, Heather and Cody had woken up side by side together on a beach on a seemingly remote island. And after talking for a little while, both teens decided that they should venture up the mountain that jutted out from the center of the Island.

Like the 3 other duo's who were venturing to the top, the last thing that Heather and Cody was talking to each other in first class at what Cody pegged was about near 9-ish. The tech geek also deduced that Chris probably drugged them somehow and put them on the Island, making this the challenge.

However Heather still felt…off about what was going on. The Island itself seemed to have a mysterious aura that was emitting from it that Heather felt she could feel on her skin. Naturally, she didn't bring this up with Cody, primary reason being was that she didn't want to look like an idiot in front of him.

Sooner or later the duo got to a path that started up the mountain, with a small placard that seemed to be nailed in against a tree that was next to it.

"Wonder what that says…" Cody mumbled as he walked over to it, preparing to read it.

"Probably some stupid crap that Chris wrote up." Heather sighed, almost tiredly.

_Venture to the apex. And one shall surprise the other. _

_Stay down here, and it'll be better. _

_But ye curiosity will kill ya. _

"Huh," Cody scratched his head as he finished reading the placard. "Wonder what that means…"

"I honestly don't care." Heather deadpanned. Despite, at least what she thought what happened, her being drugged, Heather still felt tired, like she didn't get enough sleep.

"Venture to the apex…" Cody repeated. "Oh!" He snapped his fingers. "What it's probably talking about with that is the top of the mountain, or in this case, a, the apex of it."

"What about the 'stay down here' part." Heather reminded, still noticeable groggy. "'And it'll be better'."

"That's probably just trying to mislead us." Cody took a long gaze at the mountain. "Yeah, Chris definitely wants us to climb that."

Heather sighed inwardly to herself. The Queen Bee definitely did not want to climb that, even if it was for the challenge. She was just so tired…

No.

Heather shook her head. The more she felt sorry for herself the longer she was going to have to stay on this stupid, good for nothing Island. And Heather wanted off as soon as possible.

"Fine, let's go." Heather grumbled as she started to lumber up the path. Cody, not wanting to dawdle, soon caught up with her.

* * *

Duncan and Ezekiel, like Cody and Heather, managed to start up the path to the mountain, with Ezekiel reading the placard on the tree which was strangely enough the same exact message that Cody and Heather got.

The pathway irked both of the teens who climbed it, Duncan because of the tedium of it all, it seemed that the higher they went on the path nothing ever changed. Ezekiel felt irked by it for the principle reason that he had to try really hard to keep up the same pace as Duncan. Being raised on a flat prairie for all of his youth, Ezekiel never hiked up a mountain before. This, coupled with the fact that Ezekiel was not that athletic to begin with, made it hard to keep pace with his partner. And Ezekiel didn't want to seem like a hindrance to Duncan, he wanted to be an asset.

"Jesus, how long is this going to go on…" Duncan grumbled aloud. Ezekiel winced slightly. Being a particularly religious kid, he felt a bit uncomfortable that Duncan used the 'lords name in vain.'

"Gee I doon't knoo, this mountain is pretty big, eh." Ezekiel replied, rubbing his shoulder. "Huh, I wonder if Noah and Gwen are near this area tooo'…" Immediately after Ezekiel added that last part he regretted it.

However he brought it up, so it couldn't be ignored. Duncan's eyes hardened, increasing his pace as he climbed. "Hopefully that dweeb twisted his ankle while climbing this."

"Uh, sorry for bringing it up, eh." Ezekiel put his head down, trying to keep with Duncan's pace. Duncan blinked for a second hearing Ezekiel's reply, before hardening his face again and turning his head.

"You can say anything you want around me I don't care." Duncan tried to maintain a neutral expression. Ezekiel nodded his head quickly as he trotted along. Peering his head up for a second to look what was ahead, he froze.

"Duncan…"

"What?" Duncan turned his head to the side as he spoke. Almost instantaneously a very brown, very furry, and very strong creature jumped and tackled Duncan to the ground. The unidentified creature kept thrashing and pummeling the delinquent into submission. Duncan, head being thrashed to the ground quickly gave a sharp and quick kick to the unknown creature's crotch area, hoping that it was a male.

It was.

The creature howled in pain as it stood on two legs now, and it was at this time that Duncan could quickly stand up and jump back. This was also now that both Ezekiel, who was still watching in paralyzing fear, and Duncan could see what the creature was. It looked like an odd fusion between a normal grizzly like the ones on Wawwanakwa and those gigantic and ferocious beavers from Boney Island. Quickly the delinquent grabbed Ezekiel by the sleeve of his hoodie and jerked him into the brush of trees onto their left.

"Run!"

That one command brought seemed to bring the prairie boy back to his senses for Duncan. He started to run off with him.

However run was not the most correct word that should have been used to describe their situation. Duncan and Ezekiel were more or less climbing and tripping over the small trees, rocks, and other hazards, trying to get away from the beast that was tearing his own path just to get another crack at Duncan's skull.

Said delinquents mind raced, trying to either find a way to outrun this thing or to at least knock out or kill it.

"GAWR!" The creature roared again. As the roar ringed in Duncan's ears, he again grabbed Ezekiel and yanked him to the left around a small tree with long branches. Pulling one branch as he ran around it, he released it so it would slam right into the monsters face, slowing it down a little. With this opportunity at hand, Duncan fished through his pocket until he found his old knife in a small case. Opening it forcefully, he threw the small black case at the creature before putting himself into a ready stance with the blade, ready to stab it. Before that, he noticed Ezekiel was still standing him. Quickly jerking his head to the side to tell Ezekiel to run, he was again punched by the brown creature, making him drop the knife. Duncan using the momentum from the punch with his combat experience delivered the beast a mean roundhouse to the gut before giving him another sharp kick to the crotch with the other. The creature stumbled but answered back with giving Duncan a good shove, causing him to trip and fall into a small gully filled with sharp twigs.

However Duncan's attacks proved effective, the creature lumbered back before falling flat on its back, writhing in pain. Ezekiel stared at it now, shocked. One moment it turned from the looming beast into the creature in pain.

"Ezekiel the knife!" Duncan choked out from his gully. Ezekiel snapped back into focus once again to find Duncan's knife lay at his feet. Picking it up quickly he extended it to the creature, unsure at what he was doing. The panting beast turned his head and opened its eye, regaining composure now, staring back at Ezekiel.

"What are you doing!? Kill it!" Duncan yelled hoarsely over to where Ezekiel stood. "Now's your chance, it's down!"

Ezekiel breathed slow, long breaths at the creature, looking at it. Raising the knife into the air, the homeschooler didn't know what to do. The creature, Ezekiel casted another look to it, as it got up, lost its menacing qualities, replacing them, with looks of anguish. It looked defenseless to Ezekiel's eyes.

"I…" Ezekiel gulped. "Can't."

"God damn it!" Duncan jumped out of the gully, as he jogged towards Ezekiel, with a noticeable limp on his right ankle. He swiped the knife out of Ezekiel's hand and was about to deliver the finishing blow before…

Duncan's eyes widened.

It was gone.

"Where did it…" Duncan looked east and west, but couldn't see where it went. He swung his head to Ezekiel. "Where did it go!?"

"I, I, doon't knoo'." Ezekiel stammered. "I, oom, blinked."

Duncan without replying, took one last scan of the area. As quickly as it came it was gone. Duncan closed his eyes and anger before turning his head and yelling. "Why didn't you kill it when you had the chance?!"

"I, I, er." Ezekiel hung his head down, both of his fists clenched. "It was hurt Duncan, it couldn't have done any more damage to us."

"Oh really now?" Duncan said with noticeable frustration, unibrow frowning. "It was going to kill us-"

"It's not now. There was no need to harm it." A strange surge of energy seemed to strike through Ezekiel.

"And what happens when it's healed up and comes back and looks for us for a rematch?" Duncan asked, eyes like daggers. "Or if it gets some of its own kind to come and comes with it to get us?"

Ezekiel's eyes widened "Duncan-"

"Shut up." Duncan swiped his knife back from Ezekiel. "Now we have a threat we gotta look out for because you didn't have the guts to man up and take it out."

"Duncan-"

"Every god damn time people keep their own little morals and try to be good but it always hurts them in the end."

"Duncan-"

But Duncan kept at it, his feelings overflowing from him now. "Fucking _Gwen_ with her stupid ass morals about cheating made Owen get eliminated and now Noah's got her wrapped around his finger-

"Duncan!" Ezekiel almost screamed.

"What!?" Duncan yelled back, equally as forceful.

"Look!" Ezekiel pointed behind him. Duncan turned his body around in full in confusion and stood in shock. Three brown creatures stood in the clearing, the same species as the one they just fought. The one in the middle, the injured one, the one that they fought before, breathed heavily but raised his shaky paw up to both Duncan and Ezekiel, as if indicating to the ones beside them that they were the ones who injured him.

Now it was Ezekiel who had to pull Duncan back, snapping him back into focus, as the two dashed through the small gully and through a new brush of trees, running from the new and improved terror.

* * *

_Alejandro was back at home now, his very large and very rich home that his dad bought for the family a little of a year ago. After getting his job as a diplomat, Mr. Burromeurto seemed to have more money than anybody in the world, at least to Alejandro. However that also meant that even with the large house his father just bought, he was content to travel the world with his work so often that he never got a chance to fully live in it._

_Alejandro looking down at himself found that he was no more than ten right now, wearing similar clothing that he wore now on TDWT, but smaller due to his smaller stature. The only thing that was difference was that he was not wearing his boots, but flip-flops. _

_The Latino blinked for a moment. It seemed that he was consciously aware that this was a memory, but he couldn't seem to control the events that were taking place, even what Alejandro did himself. He was merely along for the ride. _

_However Alejandro wanted so much at this time to be in control at what was about to occur. _

"_When is father going to come?" Alejandro sat in a kitchen stool while his mother was cooking. _

"_Not for a while…" His mother absentmindedly replied as she shook some salt into the pan. _

"_But you said he'd come today." Alejandro replied, in a whiny tone. _

"_Well he lied!" Alejandro's mother morphed her delicate hand into a strong fist as she pounded it against the counter. There was silence for a moment. _

"_I'm sorry, Alejandro." Alejandro's mother sighed. "It's just... your father just called me to say that he needed to attend to some urgent business, naturally he refused to tell me what it was." Alejandro's mother demeanor returned for a minute to one of anger but she soon contained it. She started to turn to Alejandro. "Dinner will be ready in a moment Alejandro, fetch your brother upstairs." _

_Alejandro gulped. _

"_Jose? You want me to get him?" _

"_Yes. Remember what father told you about getting things right on the first time Alejandro?" It seemed like his mother's words were carefully made to hurt his feelings. "Good boys don't need commands to be repeated to them."_

"_Yes mother, I will fetch him." Alejandro quickly stood up and walked up the steps. On the 2__nd__ floor now, he walked a couple paces before reaching the second, larger, door on the left. He opened it. _

"_Jose?" Alejandro seemed to squeak. _

"_Al…" Jose's, Alejandro's 13 year old brother at the time, voice seemed to slur as he talked, from his bed. Alejandro frowned. The room reeked of alcohol, and the window of his room was open, the presumable entry route Jose took after he came back from the party he went to last night. _

"_Dinner is ready." Alejandro said simply. _

"_Fucking hell, really?" Jose answered as he slumped up from his bed. "God damn, I was going to take a shower…"_

"_So mother wouldn't smell the alcohol?" Alejandro asked rhetorically. Jose's eyes widened as he got up from the bed. _

"_That didn't happen remember Ally?" He gave Alejandro a hard noogy. "I worked late at the embassy, remember?" _

"_Yes, you did." Alejandro bit his tongue and said. Jose smirked. _

"_Good. Now tell mother that I wish to take a shower before dinner as to look presentable and not messy when we eat."_

"_Yes." Alejandro replied as Jose walked away. Alejandro was about to turn away before he noticed a magazine on Jose's floor. Alejandro stared at it, it was open to a page that showed, in full view, a naked women. _

"_Hey what the fuck you looking at!" Jose harshly whispered as he pushed Alejandro to the ground. Alejandro grunted as he fell, but bit his tongue again. _

"_You, Father told us that those magazines were bad, you shouldn't have that." Alejandro simply said. Jose seemed to smirk. _

"_Father isn't here, he never is. But you tell this to mom and you'll be sorry." Jose picked up the magazine and sidestepped passed Alejandro to the bathroom. "And I'll show her what you did on your computer a month ago Ally…" _

_As Jose closed the door, Alejandro grumbled to himself. "You were the one on my computer when you looked up that dirty website." _

_Silently, Alejandro walked back downstairs to tell his mom that Jose wished to shower before dinner, only to be told that he should have been more prompt at telling her. _

_Rage was building._

* * *

Noah and Gwen stopped dead in their tracks as a piercing howl erupted from east of their direction. The large howl was large in volume and in fear that it just inflicted on the two teens who were up until this point under the suspicion that no fauna were inhabiting the island. They also did not know at this point that the creature who made the howl had with it 2 other friends who were chasing down Duncan and Ezekiel with the intent to destroy.

"What- what was that." Gwen asked in awe. The Goth never heard a roar like that.

"I don't know…" Noah tried to mask his fear. "But we shouldn't be staying here to find out, we should keep moving, quickly."

Gwen, quickly, agreed to this and the two made way a bit faster now up the path, with Gwen still glancing to wear the howl was heard. She involuntarily whispered under her breath: "I hope Duncan's okay…"

Noah seemed to hear this, turning to her and scoffing. "I'm more hoping that we'll be okay, now." Noah said this with a bit more resentment than he intended. He didn't particularly like Duncan at the moment, well, more than usual.

Gwen glanced at Noah and sighed. "I still don't want him to get hurt Noah."

"I don't want him to get hurt either." Noah replied. "However I wouldn't be that disappointed if he got hurt…" He coughed the last one under his breath.

Gwen chose to ignore that. It was true that the Goth had mixed feelings about Duncan up to this point but she still didn't want to see him get hurt, she didn't want to see anyone get hurt here. And if she and Noah were correct in assuming that Ezekiel was traveling along with Duncan now, she didn't want to see the prairie boy to sustain any injury either.

As the pathway seemed to get flat and less steep, Noah seemed to notice a circular clearing of some small, light, brown dirt. Noah squinted his eyes, it looked different. As both teens approached it for another 5 minutes farther, Gwen's eyes widened.

"I think I see someone."

Noah looked up and saw that his Gothic crush was correct, someone was staring in the clearing. His skin was tan with an orange hue, wearing a green shirt and flipflops. His hair was brown and his upper body looked muscular, he looked in perfect health. Noah knew this person all too well, similarly to how the bookworm knew Alejandro.

"Justin." Noah gritted his teeth and said the name. The male model opened up his eyes and smirked.

"Hello, anti-me" Justin said, almost nonchalantly, before turning and nodding his head to Gwen. "Gwen."

"Justin?" Gwen seemed more annoyed than confused at Justin's presence. "How did you get here?"

"Not at the liberty to say that, Gwen, sorry." Justin held up his hand. "And nice to see you too." He added at the end.

"Chris sent him." Noah immediately jumped to the conclusion as he turned his head to Gwen. "Like when Izzy came, Chris is trying to use Justin in some sort of way to manipulate the game around to his liking."

"Hey, don't talk to me like I'm not here." Justin complained with a frown.

"Sorry did someone talk?" Noah deadpanned a reply.

"Stop it!" Justin stamped his foot down, like a whiny 6 year old. He then smirked. "Fine, I'll just have to tell you something that'll really shut you up. You're wrong about Duncan and Ezekiel."

"What?"

"They're not working for Chris." Justin held his nose up high as he said that. "You are wrong, Noah."

Noah's eyes widened at that, confused. "How did you-

"-Know that we thought that." Gwen finished for Noah.

"And why should I tell you? You both haven't been treating me that nice ever since I got here." Justin huffed, turning around, arms crossed. "Maybe I shouldn't even tell you what's going to happen tonight-

"What's going to happen tonight?" Gwen asked, eyes narrowed. After her experience with him on TDA, Gwen wasn't so keen on Justin either.

"Sorry did someone talk?" Justin mimicked Noah. Gwen was about to counter back before Noah stopped her.

"Forget about him Gwen, he's obviously here just to slow us down, we should just ignore him and keep going up the mountain."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Justin held up his hand again. "Don't underestimate me, Noah."

"Trust me, if anything I'm overestimating you Justin." Noah smirked as he started to walk around him, motioning Gwen to do the same.

"Fine, we'll do this the hard way then." Justin snapped his fingers. As soon as he did so, a thunderous noise overcame the three teens and the ground under them shook. The tree's rattled and swayed so hard that a few of them fell down. Equally startling, two other teens appeared from the tree's in red and blue metal walkers. Gwen and Noah recognized the walkers from the Kung Fu episode of Total Drama Action, they were identical to the ones that Harold and Beth used when they fought. Gwen took a step back as she saw the people operating the suits.

"Katie and Sadie?" Gwen questioned as she looked to them.

"Oh my gosh it's Gwen, hi Gwen!" Sadie waved hello from her red mecha.

"Oh my gosh Sadie, I see Noah too, hi Noah!" Katie waved from her blue one.

"Uh, girls, concentrate on me here." Justin waved them to them. "Kinda trying to do a thing here."

"Oh right, Justin!" The two girls snapped back into focus. "Uh, we won't let you two through!"

"I'm quaking in my boots." Noah deadpanned sarcastically. "Oh please don't hurt us, we beg of you."

"Hey this is serious, Noah!" Justin yelled back to him. "You're in no position to be snarky to me, in case you haven't notice, Katie and Sadie can squash you like an ant!"

Noah stepped back now and grunted. As much as he hated to admit it, Justin was right. Unless Noah could outsmart him somehow, which he could if he had gotten the right opportunity. No need to let Justin know that though, Noah needed to keep Justin in a false sense of security.

"Fine, what do you want?" Noah gritted his teeth. Justin smirked at that.

"Glad to see we are at an agreement." Justin smirked. He turned towards Gwen for a moment. "But I don't want to get anything from you, Noah." He chuckled, but then turned serious again.

It was time for the guilt trip.

"How are you doing Gwen?" Justin smiled. Before Gwen could answer the male model continued. "Because I'm sad to say that Owen and Sierra aren't feeling too well after you eliminated the both of them."

The sentence rang out like a bell being chimed.

"Yep, Owen's confided in me that he's sad to see that even after he sacrificed himself you three are still acting all sneaky around Courtney. Especially to you Gwen, after Izzy I'd peg Owen liking you the best out of the girls." He narrowed his eyes. "But after you seduced Duncan into kissing hi-

"She did no such thing." Noah narrowed his eyes. "I was there, remember? If you're going to lie than at least try to use effort into it, instead of just saying random stuff in order to get an emotional response."

"Shut up, Noah." Justin said sternly. Noah, remembering his plan on feeding Justin's ego, kept quiet as Justin turned back to Gwen, who simply stared at the male model. "Come now Gwen, you _wanted_ to get kissed by Duncan, back at the first episode this season didn't you. But when the delinquent quit and you couldn't have him the feeling just kept gnawing at you didn't it, so much so that you resorted to some immoral acts to get what you wanted." He smirked. "You wanted Duncan with the same power that you wanted to get rid of Trent back in Action all those months ago. You betraying Courtney was just like you betraying the Gaffers." Noah bit his tongue in anger. Justin was conveniently leaving out the part of him _forcing_ Gwen under blackmail to betray the Gaffers in Action so she could help the Killer Grips.

Wait, what?

Noah's eyes widened as Justin took a long pause, as a great realization came over him like a tsunami. Justin blackmailed Gwen. Noah blackmailed Gwen, like Justin.

Like Justin.

_Like Justin._

_**Like Justin.**_

Justin seemed to turn and smirk at Noah, almost as if he was reading his mind, but said nothing and turned back to Gwen. "You resorted to everything to make sure no one knew about your dirty little secret with Trent, like throwing the prison challenge you also threw away Sierra without a moment's hesitation even though she so much wanted to be near Cody. And speaking of the Codemeister…" Justin wasn't smirking now, but had a look of sincerity.

"Gwen, I'm not going to lie when I say this. When Cody figures out what you did with Duncan, well…" Justin shook his head and sighed. "He will be _devastated."_

Noah frown deepened as he remembered what he said to Sierra all those nights ago in Italy.

"_Sierra, he would be devastated."_

He used the same argument when Sierra threatened to expose him. Justin…

Noah's fists clenched.

"Gwen, I know we've had our differences in the past. I don't like you, in fact, I dislike you greatly. But we do have one common interest. We're both friends with Cody. I admit that I'm not as close to him as Trent or Harold but I do like the little guy. So please, before it's more ingrained into his skull-"Justin took a pseudo dramatic pause. "Find Cody and tell him about what you did with Duncan, now."

Gwen's eyes widened at Justin's demand, and like Noah, everything seemed to hit her like a tsunami. It was true, all Gwen thought about for the past few days is what would happen when Courtney found out about her fling with Duncan, but she didn't even think about Cody!

"And this isn't a request." Justin warned. "It's a demand. I'm not going to sit and watch my fellow band mate get toyed by his so called friends anymore." He glanced both towards Noah and Gwen as he emphasized 'so called friends.' "And if you both are still too selfish to do anything, well, then we'll throw you into the water, eliminating you both from the competition, permanently."

"What?" Noah eyebrow raised, in sheer confusion. Even for Noah, the amount of new information Justin was spewing was a lot to take in.

"You heard me, remember that sign you both saw. _And a word of warning, water shall dispel you from this realm."_ Justin repeated the phrase from the placard, or at least the gist of it, before motioning to Katie and Sadie. "I'll have Katie and Sadie fling you both into the ocean, and from the time you instantly smack it you'll be ejected from the competition permanently."

"That makes no sense." Noah shook his head, not caring about feeding the male model's ego any longer. "Duncan and Ezekiel came from the water swimming when we first saw them on the beach, and they're not eliminated."

"Duncan and Ezekiel are the exception to the rule." Justin replied a bit too quickly to Noah, almost as to silence that fact. "The point is that you two are in no position to bargain. Plus Cody deserves better people than the likes of you two. So if you want to still compete at the chance for a million dollars I suggest that you, Gwen turn right around and find Cody and tell him the truth."

"Gwen-"Noah started to warn, turning his head to her. "He's just trying to guilt trip you, remember Action-

"Cody, Gwen, remember Cody-

"Cody would understand once I've explained to him my intentions of eliminating Alejan-

"Two wrongs don't make a right-

"Don't give into his pressure Gwen-

"Remember how sad Owen is Gwen-

"Remember how manipulative Justin is Gwen-

"Sierra lost her chance at the million-

"Remember DJ and Bridgette, all those people that Alejandro screwed over-

"You're leading Cody along-

"QUIET!" Gwen yelled out. Both Noah and Alejandro stopped their persuasion and simply stared at her, surprised at her sudden scream. Noah breathed heavily as he saw her grasp her head, with her breathing equally as hard. Noah felt a sudden pang as he saw her in such pain of guilt.

"I-" Gwen started to choke. "Don't know what to do-

"God damn it, I'll decide for you!" Noah immediately did something that one might have classified as completely OOC. He sprinted past Justin until he was in the middle of Katie and Sadie in their new mechanized fighting gear. He raised both of his hands and said simply. "Hit me."

Katie and Sadie blinked for a moment before they realized what was going on, but soon both tried to charge at Noah. By only a skin of his teeth, Noah jumped out of the way, leading to the two mecha's to collide right into each other, causing Sadie's mecha to fall on top of Katie's.

"Oh my gosh will you, like get off of me, Katie!"

"I can't because you're so, like, on top of me Sadie!"

As both of the mecha's struggled, Noah went behind both mecha's, with going near Sadie's. Seeing that a piece of metal was loose Noah pried the part open to see a bunch of multicolor wires which were plugged in with many plugs. Noah with great speed unplugged some wires and arranged them before slamming them hard into place. Unknown to Gwen and Justin, Noah imputed a command into Sadie's machine. The machine seemed to push Katie's machine towards the steep hill, where they would surely roll away from them.

"Gwen get out of the way!" Noah wheezed loudly as he held his knees and panted, his quick work complete.

While Gwen jogged out of the way, Justin wasn't so lucky, as he got steamrollered by the mechanized mess of a ball as they soon rolled down the cliff.

"GAAAHH!"

The combined scream of Justin, Katie and Sadie echoed through both Gwen and Noah's ears for soon after, with the only noise remaining was Noah panting heavily. He wasn't used to that kind of quick exercise, despite its overall briefness.

Gwen simply stared the steep inclined. She could not even see the three anymore.

"Gwen." Noah put his hand on her shoulder. "We have to move, they could be back up here at any moment."

"Don't touch me." Gwen shrugged Noah's hand off her shoulder and stared at him, complete anger in her eyes. "What the hell was that that you did!?"

"Saving you from getting kicked out of the competition." Noah snapped back. "Now we have to move up the mountain before they-

"They could be hurt Noah!"

"And they weren't going to hurt us if we didn't do what he wanted!" Noah yelled back, his voice raising now, with his anger rising as well in equal fluctuation. "Now stop wasting time, we have to leave!"

"No." Gwen shook her head and turned around.

"What?"

"I have to see if they are all right." Gwen proceeded to walk down the mountain now.

"Gwen don't be stupid!" Noah warned sternly. "They're going to get back up at any moment, we want to try to go up that mounta-

"No! What I need to do is make sure that the three people that you probably injured are okay." Gwen started to go down the mountain.

"They'll just make you go tell Cody then." Noah wheezed. Gwen seemed to internally snap at that. Turning around, she walked towards Noah until she stared him in the face. This was one of the closest that Gwen ever got to Noah, and his face turned red from a mixture of blushing and anger that she was this close to him. And like her punk boyfriend, she said.

"I'm done, Noah. It's not likely that you hurt them too bad, but that doesn't matter. For so long I've compromised my values, I'm done."

And with that, the Goth started to walk down the mountain, leaving the bookworm alone.

Noah simply stared at her. For at least the second time the Goth truly made Noah a loss for words.

His gambit that he had so hard to try to contain was lost from him.

And his crush that surfaced from it.

* * *

"_Yes, all is going according to plan…"_

A tall figure in a top hat surveyed the several monitors, rubbing his beard. "Those two will go down, soon." He looked to one monitor, showing Duncan and Ezekiel running from the brown creatures.

"And he's still experiencing his worst nightmare from the past." He looked to the other, showing Alejandro in great pain on the floor, with a terrified Courtney beside him. The figure felt a pang of sadness through him as he watched Alejandro sweat as he experienced his nightmare, almost like a fever. "Dear god, his pain reminds of Willie's when he passed." The figure sighed for a whole minute before he glanced to another monitor.

"Chris was correct in allowing Justin to help in this…" The figure saw a monitor where he was falling with Katie and Sadie in the mechas before turning to another. "Now she'll try to save them…" He saw Gwen walking down the mountain. "And he's down for the count." The other one showed Noah at a loss for words.

"And now the Queen of Mean and Tech Geek…" He looked until another monitor, showing Cody and Heather walking up the mountain. "I guess they can have a peaceful stroll up… for now."

He turned to himself and sighed. "But like the peculiar institution, I must not destroy the pain Chris is operating here. This for the greater good… Although I will do my best for not extending any further.

The Mountain of Memory's will move this game along just nicely…"

* * *

**Authors Notes: Again, I think I've reached burnout guys. So I'm not going to go do what my normal Author notes are like and just get to the gist. One thing I will like to point out is that this 'Mountain of Memories' is different from that 'other' one. I will also like to point out that the figure near the end with the monitors is a character that I'm very exciting about introducing. **

**So again, I hope you all have a great day and please review.**

**(1)- Duncan is referencing his final 4 experience from Season 1. **

-ewisko.


	13. Mountain of Memories Part 2

**Authors Notes: Hello all, and welcome to another super awesome double exciting installment of Noah's Gambit! Now, I would have had this up a week ago, but my computer lost all of its charge for some reason or another erasing HALF of the current chapter your reading, forcing me to rewrite it. Due to this, some of stuff, especially the latter half, might seem staccato and quick and I apologize for that. But I hope you all get the gist of what the story is anyway. **

**Now, I know that TONS of you are wondering just what the hell the contestants are as of right now, and what seemingly supernatural forces at work. Let me be the first to say that they will ALL BE EXPLAINED in later chapters, probably starting with the next one and more so in the subsequent one for that. But let me say that what Noah and the rest of the gang are in is sort of a transition phase of this story, and let me explain about that. **

**The events preceding these chapters were largely ones of setup, establishing Gwen/Duncan's relationship, ending that and planting the seeds for Noah/Gwen as well as some development. And Sierra, Owen and Tyler's elimination challenges were just development so far. As, to be honest, nothing on a large scale has happened yet. **

**The 'Mountain of Memories' chapters are bridging chapters to get into the phase of the story where there is no more setup, and there will be elimination, after elimination after elimination on a fast stretch to the finale, with very few 'breather' chapters. Well, I lie. The 'Mountain of Memories' chapters and TWO more chapters, and then shit will really hit the fan. **

**I'll explain A LOT more about this at the endnotes so… here we go!**

Xxx

Clouds seem to form over the once clear blue sky as Cody and Heather continued to trek up the grand mountain. As if equal to the clouds, a sudden wind seem to blow, where before there was no wind at all. Heather noticing these weather happenings stopped walking for a moment and stared at the sky, eyes hardening like the weather.

"What's wrong Heather?" Cody stopped and noticed his partner's sudden stoppage.

Heather didn't reply to Cody for a moment as she kept staring at it. The strange aura that she felt earlier, it seemed to change as soon as the clouds rolled in. An ominous feeling soon began to grow in the Queen Bee's gullet.

"Nothing." Heather shook her head and turned back towards Cody. "I just… got distracted by something."

Cody gave Heather a semi-worried look but dropped the subject as the two resumed walking. After a few more minutes of walking, both Cody and Heather noticed that the incline that they were walking on got noticeable less steep. And soon enough the incline stopped completely leading Heather and Cody to, what it looked like another stage of the mountain.

"From down below… this mountain didn't look this high." Cody commented as they both stopped and stared around on the flat circular area.

"Yes." Heather replied, absentmindedly again. Her eyes seemed to stop at a lone tree. And when she inspected it more closely, her eyes widened.

"Cody, another person." Heather gestured to the tree. Cody a bit startled look to where Heather was looking at and stared. As he squinted his eyes, he deduced that what Heather was saying was correct. A young man, no older than his very early twenties, was sleeping, head leaning against tree. "I wonder if he knows where we are…" Heather pursed her lips and said to herself. She suddenly started walking toward the man, much to Cody's chagrin.

"Wait, a, Heather!" Cody whispered as he jogged in front of the Queen Bee. "What are you, ah, gonna do?"

"Wake him up and then ask him where the hell we are." Heather replied flatly as she sidestepped the Tech Geek. Cody turned his head to her and sighed. He knew by now that once Heather made her mind up to something, there was little to change it. Kind of like Gwen in fact…

Cody shook his head.

"Hello?" Heather bent down and waved her hand to the sleeping man. "It's like 10:00 by now, get up."

"Heh…" The young man grumbled blinking his eyes open. He rubbed his eyes for a bit before answering Heather. "Come on, it's Sunday, Thompson's isn't even supposed to be open…" Heather raised her eyebrow.

"I'm not 'Thompson', but get up I want to ask you something." She said shaking his arm. The young man, not really understanding what was going on, shrugged his shoulders and stood up, still a bit groggy. He then suddenly raised his eyes sharply, as if he just remembered something. "Oh so you're the kids that he was talkin' bout." His voice had a noticeable southern accent.

"Uh, sir." Cody stepped into the conversation. "Sorry for waking you, but we just wanted to ask you just where exactly we are?"

"Oh." The young man nodded his head. "I ain't exactly suppose to tell ya's that." The young man admitted.

"Oh really?" Heather narrowed your eyes. "And why is that?"

"Ain't suppouse to tell yer's that either…" The man rubbed his head, almost as if from a hangover. Contradictable to that, the man removed a flask from his small jacket that he had which smelled of Alcohol. He was about to drink it before he stared at both Cody and Heather again, who both gave him a weird look.

"You want a sip?" He gestured.

"Uh, we're minors." Cody explained, thinking that that was enough. The young man gave them a strange look.

"Miner's? Well you sure don't look like it, but I can buy it." After taking a swig of alcohol, Heather pegged it to be hard whisky, he coughed and asked: "You's mine coal?"

"What?" Heather was more irritated and confused at this point. "We're not _miners _as in going in caves and digging stuff up, he meant that we're under 18." She explained. The man took a second to process all of that before shaking his head.

"Never heard the word used like that before, but sure. Still doesn't explain why you can't drink none whisky here but fine." He took another swig. "Guess you two wanna get up this mountain here." The man gestured to the still considerable climb of it.

"We were planning on it." Heather replied.

"Good, I was told right then. So, eh, if you both want any help or anythin' climbin' it I'd be more and happy to help." The man offered. "Might not seem like it, but this forest can do some weird things to the eyes, and some animals that ain't to friendly to your type of folk…"

Heather, before answering, gave a final long look at the guy. Like his speech, what he was wearing seemed equally old fashioned, although Heather couldn't pinpoint the time period. Plus him explicitly saying that he knew where they were but yet refusing to tell them. Yet…

This eerie feeling that Heather had about this place was unmistakable weary. It would be good to have at least someone leading her and Cody through unfamiliar territory, even a young drunk like him.

"Sure, but don't get any funny ideas." Heather said. The man chuckled back.

"Missy, don't worry bout it. Now ya wanna go?" The young man asked. Both Heather and Cody nodded their heads as they approached the next incline.

"So, what's your name?" Cody asked as they walked.

"David." The man replied. "Best if I don't tell ya mines sir name though."

Heather squinted her eyes but said nothing as they walked on with David and Cody.

Xxx

Ezekiel dodged another tree as the now 3 brown creatures persisted their chase. Now it was Duncan who was lagging behind, which Ezekiel chalked up to the delinquent's right ankle having a considerable limp to it.

As they ran, both teens could see a parting of the tree's into a sort of a clearing.

"Go full out sprint once we're out of the woods, the more light we'll distract them enough so we can hopefully get away!" Duncan yelled hoarsely to Zeke. Too tired to reply, the prairie boy nodded at Duncan's plan. A few moments later both teens stumbled out of the tree's with Duncan immediately starting to gun it, not even looking where he was going.

He should have.

Immediately, Duncan slammed head first into what Duncan could tell at the time was some red metal thing while Ezekiel slammed into what it had looked like another person. "What!" Duncan yelled out in confusion, as he fluttered his eyes open.

"You should of, like, watched where you were going Duncan." A high pitched and very feminine voice giggled. Duncan not even aware what was going on anymore from the head injury slumped down to his stomach. He was knocked out.

Lucky for Ezekiel, he didn't receive the same head injury as Duncan, but he was still in a world of pain as he was currently sprawled out on top of some unknown guy.

"Get off of me!" The guy pushed Ezekiel off of him so the prairie boy was lying on his back. "Crap, they led those things here!"

It took Ezekiel a moment to sit up straight, but when he did his eyes widened as he saw what was going on.

"Justin?" Ezekiel mouthed as the male model was currently cowering from the three brown creatures menacing towards them.

"Not the face!" Justin tried to cover it. "Or the pecs, gluts, abs, chest, hands, legs, or… just don't hurt me!"

Yep, definitely Justin.

"Sadie, scare them off with your mecha thing!" Justin ordered, now picking up Ezekiel, and by the looks of it using him as a human shield.

"Oh, okay, I can like totally scare them."

Ezekiel still confused at what was going on, saw that Sadie was in a red mecha suit, and too Ezekiel's memory, looked like the same one that was used in during the Kung Fu challenge of Total Drama Action.

The Mecha stood up now, semi towering over the three creatures, with making extra careful to not smoosh Duncan, who was still lying on the ground unconscious.

"Hey, don't scare poor Justin!" Sadie yelled at them, making the mechanized arms clap their hands. Despite her feminine voice, this seemed to frighten the creatures a little, as they started to back off. "Yeah you better run!" Sadie finished as they all started to make their way back into the forest. However Ezekiel noticed that the brown creature, took one, long, last look at Ezekiel, before going on the retreat with his friends.

"Good, they're gone." Justin sighed in relief as he walked away, dropping Ezekiel, who he was still holding up at the time. Ezekiel rubbed his head as he fell to the ground, moaning a little. Apparently Justin or the girls didn't care however, as they went back to their conversation.

"Justin, what should we, like, do now!" Katie asked, her mecha now full standing now.

"Yeah, Noah like, totally tricked us back there!" Sadie chimed in.

"_Noah."_ Justin gritted his teeth as he said the name, like dripping venom. "Idiot, he doesn't care about Cody at all. Typical ugly person." He scoffed. He turned to Duncan, who was still lying unconscious. Justin eyes narrowed. "Ungrateful punk. Idiot cheated on Courtney for that pasty bitch." Justin sighed, true anger showing before turning to Katie.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but _Seward_ told us that once someone steps off the mountain, they're disqualified, right?"

"Yep!" Katie chirped. "_Chase_ told us that too when _we first came in."_

"Good." Justin took another hard look at Duncan. "I know Chris told us to only to interfere with Gwen and Noah's chances on getting kicked off but I don't care, this guy's done so much bad stuff that he deserves to get axed." Justin turned to Katie and Sadie. "Any one of you two think you can hurl Duncan into the water so he'll be out of the game?"

"Oooh, I can!" Katie squealed.

"No I can to better!" Sadie argued.

"Like you're not as good in the suit as me!"

"Yuh huh, I'm even better!"

"No I'm better!"

As Katie and Sadie proceeded to get into one of the most meaningless and admittedly annoying arguments again, Ezekiel stood up, hearing everything. Looking at the unconscious Duncan, the prairie boy sighed.

Ezekiel didn't understand why going in the water led to elimination but he didn't care, he couldn't let them do that to Duncan, eliminate him in one fell swoop. Sure, Duncan might have gave Ezekiel a hard time before, but he was the only other person in the game as of now besides Cody that hanged out with Ezekiel, with the others keeping their distance. Slowly and quietly, Ezekiel jogged behind the three as the argument was happening until he got to Duncan.

Surprisingly, despite how close Ezekiel was to them, they didn't notice as Katie and Sadie were still having their petty argument with Justin trying to quell it. Picking up the unconscious delinquents shoulders, he tried to drag Duncan away from the bickering three, into the forest. Ezekiel took this moment to take a glance at Duncan, despite the large injury he thought Duncan sustain when hitting that hard piece of metal plating, there was no blood to be found or even a bruise. But regardless the delinquent was still knocked out cold.

"Going somewhere?"

Ezekiel blinked and looked up, seeing Justin standing over him, arms crossed.

"A, you knoo', just, helping Duncan oo't." Ezekiel stammered. Justin quirked his eyebrow.

"Well you don't need to, we're going to get rid of him now." Justin drummed his fingers on his arms. "So just let him go."

"Why do yoo' want to get rid of him?" Ezekiel gulped, trying to play ignorant. He had a vague idea what Duncan did now that resulted into him forming a secret relationship with Gwen, the alliance with Noah, with the sudden breakup with Courtney. Justin gave Ezekiel an odd look for a second, as if it should be common knowledge but then he blinked. "Oh yeah you don't know, better tell you then…" Justin sighed exasperatedly, almost as if telling Ezekiel about the information was an inconvenience to him. Which it totally was.

"Basically what happened was that during the London challenge, Duncan cheated on Courtney with Gwen." Justin said. "From there Noah saw them and blackmailed them, threatening exposure unless they agreed into joining an alliance with him to vote off Alejandro." He finished.

"Boo't, I already knew that."

"Wait, you what?" Justin gave Ezekiel another odd look, a mixture of confusion and annoyance. "Well if you knew than why the heck are you helping him?"

Katie and Sadie seemed to stare at Ezekiel too, well more of a glare. Ezekiel squinted his eyes, wondering what to say to defend himself.

"I knoo' what Duncan did was wrong…" Ezekiel started. "Boo't that's his personal life, eh. Despite it being on camera's we doon't really knoo' the full story to it."

"So you're just going to sit and watch Courtney get her heart broken while this douche gets off free?" Justin eyed Ezekiel hard. Ezekiel looked deep in thought for a moment before ending it with a sigh.

"To be honest, I doon't knoo' Courtney that well to say that she was completely innocent in what happened, eh. Boo't I doon't want to say that she was at fault either. Boo't I do knoo' that it isn't yours, mine, or anyone else's right to judge who's right and wrong in this." Ezekiel was surprisingly confident in saying those words. Justin seemed to gawk at Ezekiel as he heard this, whilst Katie and Sadie looked plum confused, not quite discerning the prairie boy's accent.

"Yeah, well what do you know?" Justin broke the silence his tone dark, eyes squinting, turning his head to the unconscious Duncan. "Your 'not judging' thing might get along with you just fine in Canada, but in America we believe in justice. Duncan's just an idiot who threw away the beautiful Courtney for some low life." He paused and turned back to Ezekiel, with feelings of his past experiences on TDA resurfacing to the male model. "And besides, what do you know? You're just some _sexist_ anyhow."

"Yeah!" Sadie chimed in. "Oh my gosh, remember what he said back in the first episode of TDI Katie?"

"Oh my gosh I do Sadie, that was horrible what he said."

"See?" Justin said. "Don't go acting like the righteous one after what you said in Island, how dare you." Justin's face brimmed red in the face now. "Little twerp, the only reason you're still here is because of _Tyler_! It should have been me who was asked to come back to the show to balance out the ugly people ratio, but no! That idiot Alejandro had to come and ruin my whole chances!" Justin blinked, mid rant, realizing that he was running on a tangent. Recomposing himself he continued. "Whatever, I'm done talking to you now. Katie, Sadie, get Duncan and eliminate him."

"Sure Justin!" The two girls happily replied, turning to Ezekiel advancing on him. Ezekiel staggered back a bit as the two of them came closer. He was completely out of options at this point. He couldn't possibly try to run away and somehow carrying Duncan.

In a last act of desperation, Ezekiel kneeled down towards the unconscious Duncan. "Come on Duncan yoo' gotta wake up, eh."

No response, Duncan was still knocked out cold.

"Sorry, Ezekiel!" Katie squeaked as she picked Duncan up with her mecha's arms by the chest, making careful not to crush the delinquent.

"No!" Ezekiel tried to jump up and retrieve him, but Duncan was still much for the Prairie boy.

"Don't worry about hurting him, Katie." Justin called out. "Remember, _where we are_, again."

"Oh yeah!" Katie replied cheerfully. "I forgot about that!" After that small interaction, Katie extended the mecha's arm behind the mecha itself, preparing for a grand throw.

"Stop, you'll hurt him!" Ezekiel pleaded, grabbing his toque frantically by his hands in fear.

"No he won't." Justin said, smiling. "Duncan will be just fine when he gets out of here. Now chuck him!"

Ezekiel, to wrought with fear at what was going to happen next to process what Justin just spoke of, watched with fear as Katie proceeded to take the final wind up at the poor delinquent, ready to throw him clean off the mountain and into the ocean.

"Stop!"

A new voice broke through the silence, leading to Katie to stumble, dropping Duncan clear on his head again on the ground. Justin mouth a gape turned around to the path in direction of the noise, confused at what had just occurred. Ezekiel and the girls did to, equally confused. However once they all saw the face of the person, it all soon made sense. Justin gritted his teeth and frowned.

"_Gwen."_

Gwen didn't even acknowledge Justin's words at first as she seemed to stomp towards them, frown deep. All the concern that the Goth had for Justin and the girls dissipated now, replaced with confusion and anger at what they were about to do.

"What were you doing?" Ezekiel jumped a bit, startled. He had never seen Gwen so livid, as the Goth gave Justin the angriest glare the Prairie boy ever saw. Despite how scary to Ezekiel Gwen looked, Justin didn't even flinch.

"I was just about to give Duncan what he deserves." Justin glared as hard as Gwen. "And why are _you_ even here, you should be talking to Cody."

Ezekiel had no idea what Justin was talking about. "You were going to hurt Duncan!"

"No we weren't." Justin shook his head. "Duncan wasn't going to get hurt from that."

"And why not? By the looks of it Katie was about to fling Duncan off the mountain, how could you say he wasn't going to get hurt!" Gwen yelled, white in the face.

"You just don't understand all right!" Justin shouted back. "And I can't explain that to you!"

While the two continued bickering, Ezekiel managed to pull Duncan to the side away from the mecha's, making sure he was lying on his back where his unconsciousness could breathe comfortable. As Ezekiel stood up from his work, he noticed that all the colors around him looked darker, as if a great shade swept over them. Looking up to the sky, the homeschooled eyes widened, confused as ever.

"How did it get so cloudy?" He asked aloud, pointing to the heavens above him. Sadie, apparently hearing what Ezekiel said, looked up and gasped.

"Justin,_ it's_ starting to happen!"

Justin hearing these words, stopped midsentence from countering Gwen's argument and looked upwards, gasping with equal fright. "No, I thought we had more time…"

"Time?" Gwen asked. "What are you talking about?"

Justin turned back to Gwen, his head looking very concentrated, trying to figure out what to do at this very moment. Spinning around away from them, he looked across the mountain to the ocean. "They're going to come soon, they said in an hour so…" He turned back to Gwen, although still in deepest thought with himself. "Troops are going to start appear here, and the others are going to try to land, but I can't tell _them…"_

"What!" Gwen, patience on the brink, said. Justin turned back to her.

"Get up the mountain, now."

"What?"

"Now, we have to get up there as soon as possible. I don't want my _one shot_ to be lost by you."

"Not until you start giving me answers." Gwen stood firm and resilient.

"I can't tell you or my _one chance_ will be gone!" Justin cried, now turning into a panicked state. "But we have to go up, now!" Gwen still holding her ground, said nothing. Justin was growing desperate. "Fine, I'll tell you _some_ stuff if you just get-

"You will do no such thing."

All heads turned, including the two mecha's, to the pathway leading up the mountain. An older looking gentlemen was standing there. His expression lay neutral, although his tone was dead serious.

"Who'o?" Ezekiel managed to stutter out.

"I'm sorry that I have to do this," The new figure did not acknowledge Ezekiel's question. "But rules are rules, I must apprehend you all now."

"Bu-bu- _Stephens_…" Justin stammered. "They told us-

"I'm aware of you were told Justin, and I'm sorry to say that you were given false intelligence. _Davis_ got the idea that telling you that we were to come a later than we actually posed to arrive would quickly get rid of any chance of all of you becoming a problems. And although I do not agree with his decision to do so morally, I must do so. I'm also especially sorry that I capturing you will make it nary a chance that you'll _be placed back in as a returning competitor_, and I object morally that I am about to partake in this apprehension." The words that flowed out were of a southern dialect, that while both Ezekiel and Gwen could understand, they could not ascertain what the gentlemen meant.

Raising his hand now, the gentlemen snapped his right hand with his fingers. Ezekiel widened his eyes and jumped up in fright, now 6 of the brown creatures broke through the forestry of tree's and surrounded all of them.

"Gwen and Ezekiel…" The figure spoke aloud now, so the two could hear. Both teens looked up at what he said. "Being aware that you both did not know about any of this, I will tell you just this. You might experience pain, but no injury will sustain on yourselves. Again, I apologize if I can't inform you any more about this." He gestured forward with his arms, his head turned, talking to the creatures.

"Apprehend them and take them up to the mountain."

The 6 brown creatures sprang upon all of them now.

Xxx

"So, uh, how old are you?" Cody asked David as they walked, trying to create small talk. After David's offer to lead them up, the southerner didn't say anything else to the duo, causing some slight discomfort on Cody's part.

"23." David replied, turning to the teen.

Cody only nodded in agreement as his opportunity of small talked passed. David seemed to make it implicitly clear that he didn't want to talk idly. And neither did Heather, still staring at the ground as she walked, to what it looked like to Cody was thinking hard about something.

For 5 minutes this awkwardness stewed until they approached another curve in the path up the mountain. "Won't be's long til we's reach the top." David commented.

"What will be at the top, exactly." Heather asked, suspiciously. David turned to her, and gave the Queen Bee an odd look.

"How's I supposed to know?" David replied. "I ain't the one in charge in this whole thing."

As this small interaction took place, Cody's eyes widened to what was in front of him. "Uh, is he?"

Heather and David turned their heads from each other to see yet another man, standing in front of them about several feet away. At first glance the man looked respectable, neat, tidy, but upon further inspection they could see that he did look quite ragged. And he looked livid.

"You-" The new young man approached them now, pointing at David.

"Now hold on." David held up his hands. "I know you's mad Nicolay-

"Mad?" The young man, presumable named Nicolay repeated as he stopped walking, face to face with David now. "I am past the point of anger for the likes of you."

"I don't blame you for feeling that way." David answered. "But I ain't-

"Don't even try to explain yourself." Nicolay cut him off. He turned to Cody and Heather for a moment before returning his full focus towards David, "So you're leading them."

"Hey come on now, you can't blame me for that." David started. "You'd do the same thing if you's were in my shoes."

"Can someone just tell me what is going on!" Heather erupted, breaking the conversation between the two men. Nicolay turned to Heather again, eyes inspecting her. "You've been tricked, Herold is going to lead you right to Lee when they find the other two up in that cave over there they'll be next." Nicolay eyed David. "He might not look like much, but this man has aided in one of the worst acts in history-

"Sssh!" David made a shushing sound, holding his pointing finger to his mouth. "You ain't suppose to talk bou't that!"

Nicolay's glare deepened. "I give less of a damn of what I'm permitted to say and not say around them. What you and _Booth_ did was more than just part of this insignificant game."

"_Booth_…" The gears in Cody's mind started to turn.

"I want an answer now, what the hell are you two talking about!" Heather shouted, pure frustration in her voice. David looked visible frightened now as he turned to Heather, than immediately back to Nicolay.

"Nicolay, stop, they're gonna figger it out-

"Well, let them." Answered Nicolay coldly. "I'm tired of being instructed like some sort of plaything, and I'm tired of letting your side lie to get what they want. You two!" Nicolay turned his head towards Cody and Heather. "Get away from Herold, now. He's going to betray you in the end."

"No!" Heather shouted back, equally as forceful. "I'm sick of all day being led around by this jackass without any explanation, and I'm sure as hell not going to go and follow someone equally as secretive. So tell me what the hell is going on!"

Nicolay seemed to keep his cool, and nodded his head. "Fine, you're entitled to know what's really going on here, both you and him." He eyed Cody. "It's a long winded explanation I'm afraid but here it is-

"You are surrounded."

Suddenly, about 50 looking men in gray looking uniforms sprang from the surrounding small trees, surrounding them all. What was more startling however was that they had muskets, guns, pointed at the three of them. Heather heard Nicolay curse as he took a step back from them, hands curled up into fists. Jerking his head to David he screamed, "You were only waiting until they arrived!"

"I'm sorry about that." David quickly ran behind the surrounding gray troops now. "Sorry to you two to, Cody and Heather, but you'd do the same if you's was me."

A distinguished gray soldier stepped forth from the crowd, presumable general, and seemed to size up all of them, Nicolay, and the two teens. Cody himself was dumbstruck at what was transpiring, trying to piece together all of the information that was being flung at him. Heather was scared now, deathly afraid. The distinguished officer turned to a common solider and asked. "These the two who were sent in with the rest?"

"Yes, _General Johnston _sir."

"General Johnston?" Cody mumbled to himself, still trying to piece it all together.

"What are you going to do with us?" Heather snarled at the commanding general.

"To bring you down to our command near the waterfront." The general responded, not with malice, and yet with not with sorrow.

"Sir!" Another common soldier sprang from the trees and ran towards him, looking quite tired. "I just got word from Stephens and his use of the _creatures_. They have captured not only three of them, but also Justin and two fellow operatives that the _Union_ deployed."

"Union…" Cody was preparing to piece it all together now.

"Good work, good work…" Johnston nodded his head to the soldier, who soon jogged back to position with the others. He turned back to the soldiers and said, "Our work is done here, let us go back with these we captured, back towards the vessels from which we first came and wait until _Lee_ and his forces delivers us the last of the mountain, ensuring our victory."

The soldiers saluted, and Heather and Cody and Nicolay began to be poked and prodded down the mountain, softly, with the butts of the muskets.

"You won't prevail." Nicolay said aloud to all of the soldiers.

"Let go of me!" Heather tried to squirm out hand.

But it was no use. Cody and Heather were led astray by David Herold, and took Nicolay down with them. Back down the mountain, and back to the beaches that they once woke. It was a dreadful and long walk, yet Cody still struggled with his mind to figure out who were these strange men. David, Nicolay, and now this general Johnston. Who were these three men?

However as Cody was perplexed into trying to deduce who these men were, the great clouds of change were forming. As by the end of the day, Cody will find out something that would change his outlook on the game forever.

Xxx

As Cody and the rest were being led down from the mountain back to the beach, Courtney struggled to awaken Alejandro.

"Come on Alejandro, wake up…" She patted his face lightly. The Latino merely seemed to twitch, somewhat in pain, at Courtney's gesture. Courtney quickly pulled back her hand in fright. She could feel sweat beads from Alejandro's face.

"This is bad, I never should have let him drink that stupid white stuff." The C.I.T sighed to herself. She may have not known Alejandro that well, at all really, but she hated to see anyone in this much pain and anguish. Every few moments, Alejandro would mutter in his drugged induce coma 'Jose' or 'No' almost as if it was on a sort of an interval schedule. As Courtney got up from kneeling over the Latino, she gulped and grasped her head, not trying to give in to total fear.

As Alejandro let out another moan of pain, Courtney wished fervently that someone was beside her, anyone at this point. And in a moment of weakness, the C.I.T wished that it was Duncan. At first she immediately countered this in her mind, trying to push that thought out of the way. But as total fear gripped her, watching Alejandro writhe in pain on the ground, all the other emotions Courtney long tried to repress seemed to come to the surface, like a geyser.

It was true, she wanted Duncan to be here during this, and of course she would want anyone here beside her, Gwen or Bridgette more specifically, but despite her shame for wanting it, she wanted Duncan back. He had just dumped her, right out of the blue, with no reason what so ever. Of course Courtney should have seen this coming, even when Duncan first returned to the game he had been cold and aloof towards her, like Courtney was restricting him in some way. And back during the Vegas challenge Alejandro said that Duncan said horrible stuff behind her back to Team Chris…

And then all of a sudden, poof, it was done, and Duncan had ended it. And Courtney hated herself for wanting it to not be over. **[1]**

"Heih!" Courtney breathed in, like a whisperish shout, as she suddenly saw the orange door slowly creep open. As the door seemed to open completely, a young man seemed to come out from the shadows. Courtney, too startled to look at any of his features, simply stared at him. The young man stared back for a moment, his hands shaking a bit, yet trying to stay resilient.

"I'm sorry if I startled you, miss. My name is _John Hay." _The greeting seemed to ring out like an off key bell, as Courtney continued to stare at him, confused and frightened. Hay seeing this, gulped but continued. "Uh, I just came in to apologize for having your friend here experience so much pain. Let me assure you that it wasn't the administrations intention for this to be so, but was ordered by _Chris Mclain _to do so."

"What." Courtney seemed be brought back to focus by hearing that familiar name. She walked up to the young man, and pointed with her pointer finger right into his chest. "Do you have any idea how much time I've spent in here just looking after this guy!" And just like that Courtney went back to covering all her feelings and insecurities up.

By being a complete and total bitch.

"I'm aware and apologies for that." Hay backed up, holding up his hands in defense. "_Mr. Linc_\- I mean!" He quickly cut off his sentence. "The people in charge are doing everything in their power to help the contestants evade whatever more pain Mr. McLain is trying to inflict on you."

Courtney narrowed her eyes at the 27 year old, gritting her teeth, but said nothing. Turning to Alejandro for a moment she asked, "Well for starters if you want to help you should give him some medical attention, or at least try to wake him up."

"I'm sorry, but I can't help with that, not that I don't wish to I mean, but it's impossible. Alejandro can only awaken once he has finished reliving his past memory." John Hay replied.

"And when will that be?" Courtney glared at the young man.

"I assure you it shouldn't be much longer." John Hay started. "You see, for dreams like this, time passes slow for those inside it like your friend, but it doesn't seem like it to them. When he awakens, in about 10 minutes, it will only feel like a twenty minute endeavor, but in reality it has been an excruciating sixty minute affair." John Hay explained, quite poetically. Courtney nodded her head and turned to Alejandro.

"10 minutes…" She mumbled as she looked onto Alejandro again.

Xxx

_When Alejandro came back downstairs to tell his mother that something was Jose was taking a 'shower', he noticed things had rapidly changed. Looking down now, Alejandro could see that he was in a suit and tie, and clean black shoes, much different from his brown flip flops he was wearing before. Feeling his face with his hands he could see that much more had change, a small stubble seemed to jut out of Alejandro's chin, the start of facial hair. He also felt his arms, there were biceps now when there weren't before. _

_Alejandro's eyes widened now as he realized what had happened. He had advanced three years into the future, Alejandro was now thirteen years old. But that wasn't the revelation that first came to Alejandro's mind. _

_It was the day where _**it** _happened. _

_Seconds later he, Jose and his mother were suddenly in a car, driving down the roads of Mexico City to get to the capital building. The reason why the family was driving was to be there when his father was to accept a prestigious reward for strengthening the ties between the countries of Mexico and Brazil __**[2].**_

"_You boys excited?" __**[2]**__ Alejandro's mother asked aloud, not diverting her attention to the road. _

"_Yes mother, very." The now sixteen year old Jose, smiled. Alejandro, even though he desperately wanted to change the event, simply stared out the window, lost in his thoughts. _

"_Alejandro." His mother started sternly. "Pay attention to when you're spoken to."_

"_Yes mother, I am excited." Alejandro blinked and turned, not wanting to disappoint her. He saw Jose shooting him a sly look, but apparently his mother didn't see it. _

_When Alejandro's mother parked the car, all three of them got out and approached a large capital building where the awards ceremony would be held. As they were walking towards the front doors, Jose, seeing that there mother wasn't looking, pushed Alejandro to the ground with his left arm. _

"_Ow!" Alejandro yelped as his body fell, his left elbow in particular scraping the pavement. _

"_Alejandro!" His mother turned to him. "What happened?"_

"_I was-" He stopped and looked at Jose, who gave him a deathly glare. "I'm sorry mother, I tripped on a crack in the road." He lied. _

"_Honestly Alejandro." His mother helped his son up as she tried to dust off the debris from his fall. "You must be more careful, like your brother." Alejandro hated that phrase 'like your brother' with a passion. "And, oh god, is that blood!" Alejandro looked down and immediately felt nauseous. A thin trail of blood from his knee was dripping down his new black pants from the ankle hole. "Jesus Christ Alejandro, what am I going to do with you…" His mother muttered a string of swears under her breath. _

"_If I may interrupt mother," Jose started, trying to look sweet and innocent as possible it was borderline disgusting. "There is a small clothing shop a few blocks from here where I think Alejandro can find a new pair of pants, as well as a pharmacy where I can purchase the materials to treat his wound. I can take Alejandro to them if you want and fix him up, good as new and still make it time to the ceremony." _

"_Why, thank you Jose for offering to do that." His mother smiled. "And I'll gladly accept." She then turned to Alejandro, "You should be lucky your brother is this nice, now go along with him."_

_Alejandro sighed but nodded and he soon walked down the street with Jose, before turning the corner. Alejandro, walked nervously, knowing Jose was planning something. As they passed the shops Alejandro said, "We passed the pharmacy and the clothing store."_

"_Perceptive." Jose nodded his head. _

"_So, uh, where are we going?" Alejandro asked, afraid of the answer. _

"_Someplace where we can dick around for a while." Jose turned to Alejandro. "Antonio's house." _

"_Antonio?" Alejandro fear seemed to dissipate, he expected something worse. "How did he get out of going to the ceremony, his father's an ambassador as well." _

"_His parents are fuckin' naïve as fuck. He just faked being sick so he dosen't have to go, lucky bastard." Jose replied._

_However nervousness still was there. "What about the ceremony though, won't mother be mad?"_

"_If mother dosen't know she won't." Alejandro still looked uneasy. Jose seemed to sigh for a moment and stopped walking turning towards Alejandro. For the first time in many years, his face looked genuine. _

"_Listen, Alejandro. What I did back there was a favor to you. Everyone knows mother likes to get to places about like 2 hours in advance, and then we'd have to make fucking small talk with some dumbass politicians n' shit. I did you a favor by shoving you, now we got a good excuse not to do that shit, cause I have to clean you up and get pants n' whatever." Jose proceeded to walk again. _

_Alejandro's eyes widened for a moment as he caught up with Jose. It had been the first time in many years since Jose had even used his first name, his real name. Alejandro smiled now, the first genuine smile in a long time. Jose was actually being nice to him. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad…_

_Xxx_

_Alejandro and Jose entered Antonio's house easy enough, with a simple ring of the doorbell. The teen led them in, although he was noticeable drunk, down to the basement of the house. As they got downstairs, Alejandro could see more of Jose's friends were there, not just Antonio's. _

_Mia, a girl in very, "revealing" (The nicest word Alejandro could say about it,) clothing and a scary looking guy named Daniel. There was also an assortment of other teens who Alejandro recognized, but could not put a name to. _

"_Yo, Jose." Daniel walked up and gave Jose a fist bump. _

"_Dan, I see you didn't wait for me to come before you started drinking." Jose chuckled lightly, returning the bump. Dan chuckled as he took another swig of beer before glancing near Alejandro's direction. "You brought your brother?"_

"_Had to, only way I can get away from my ma, overbearing bitch." Jose added that last part. Alejandro involuntarily flinched as he heard his brother's disrespect. _

"_Oh yeah, the ceremony thing that Antonio got out of, sucks you still have to go to that." Daniel replied. Jose nodded back before turning his head and asking Antonio, "Dude, grab me a beer?"_

"_Sure, but, if yoo' need to go back to the cereshmony, dooon't get drunk." Antonio slurred his speech as he handed Jose a beer. Jose shrugged his shoulders as he took it. "Ah, don't worry 'bout me. I can handle just one. _

"_Hey." Daniel's voice interrupted, serious for once. "Is the kid going to squeal on us?" He gestured towards Alejandro with his bottle. Antonio and Jose turned their heads toward Alejandro, looking unsure. Alejandro gulped, this was the first time Jose was being nice to him in a long time. He couldn't just ruin the party…_

"_Hand me a beer." Alejandro suddenly asked, as if answering there question. Antonio and Daniel both looked at Jose, a bit confused, but Jose shrugged his shoulder. "My brother can handle it." _

_Antonio shrugged his shoulders at that but let threw Alejandro a bottle, which he almost dropped but caught. Getting the cap off, he took a small swig. It tasted bitter to Alejandro, and he had a bit of a burning sensation in his throat, but he shook his head and swallowed it anyway._

_It was Alejandro's first time tasting alcohol. _

_He smiled for a moment as he looked all around, brother and his friends talking to each other now as the loud rock music blarred. Yes, maybe Jose had changed, today was going to be a good day for him…_

_Xxx_

_Alejandro sat on the floor, woozy and drunk. Very drunk. For the thirty minutes Alejandro was at the party, he had just pretty much hung around with Antonio, someone who even before today was still halfway decent towards Alejandro. He didn't want to seem like a nuisance to his brother, who had just been starting to be friendly to him after 13 years of torment. However Jose was soon walking back towards Alejandro, however it he soon noticed that his brother wasn't walking towards him, but too the girls standing near Alejandro. In his drunken mind, Alejandro seemed to remember that one of the girls was Isabelle, Jose's girlfriend. Alejandro himself always had a crush on his brother's girl, but he obviously never revealed it, less getting beat the crap out of. _

"_Yo, Izzy." Jose talked slyly. "How you, doin?" __**[3] **_

_Isabelle turned her head and scoffed. "Don't even talk to me." _

"_Huh?" Jose, who Alejandro even in his drunken state took more than one beer like he had promised, asked. _

"_Don't play dumb, Jose. We had talked about this earlier, how you weren't going to drink anymore, and here you are up to 3 bottles?" She held up her hand, showing three fingers. _

"_Don't be a bitch today." Jose tried to wrap his arm around her but Isabelle backed away. _

"_No, Jose, get away from me." Isabelle was resolute. Jose cocked his eyebrow a bit but didn't press it and shrugged his shoulders, said a snide comment, and walked upstairs with Daniel and some other guys to do whatever. _

"_That jerk!" Isabelle stamped her foot when Jose was out of earshot. _

"_Yeah, I'm sorry." Another girl, who Alejandro still to this day didn't know the name of. "He has been acting like a real jerk."_

_As the two girls had their conversation, Alejandro seemed to involuntarily stare at them. The liquor made it seem like they were the most interesting thing to watch in the world. _

"_You know what." Isabelle said, liquor starting to take effect on her as well. "I know something that'll really get to that jerk." She turned to Alejandro. Walking away from her friend she knelled down until she was eye level with the wasted 13 year old. "Can you help me with something?" _

_Alejandro, smiling like an idiot, nodded his head and followed Isabelle. As they went through the crowds of people she had led Alejandro into a smaller room in the basement. As Alejandro walked through the door, Isabelle stopped walking and closed the door, and gave Alejandro a forceful kiss. _

_Alejandro, wide eyed had no idea what was happening for a moment. However, due to his drunken state all fear of what would happen dissipated, leaving Alejandro to only his primal emotions. The kiss lasted for a few moments, elating Alejandro. However it was short lived, by an opening of a door. _

"_What!" Isabelle immediately pushed Alejandro away at hearing that, causing the latino kid to stumble to the ground. Turning, Isabelle could see that Daniel, and Jose were standing at the door, with the latter looking mighty pissed off. _

"_You-" Jose started as he walked towards them. _

"_Jose let me explain-_

"_Shut up!" Jose roared to her, silencing the girl. "Jesus Christ Isabelle, how could you do this to me!?" Before the girl could respond, Jose turned to Alejandro, still lying on the ground, in his old little world in his drunken state of mind, blissfully unaware. Jose, in blind fury, picked up Alejandro by the collar and decked him right in the jaw, causing the Latino to fall on the ground again, yelping in pain. Jose was about to pick him up and do so again, before Antonio, seeming to come out of nowhere held Jose's arm back._

"_Dude, calm down!" Antonio restrained. _

"_What do you mean, calm down?" Daniel interjected, walking close to them now. "The little shit just took his girl from him!"_

"_Alejandro was drunk." Antonio said, clearly and slowly. "Still is drunk, I'm sure he didn't mean to do so on purpose, besides-" He glared daggers at Isabelle "She probably seduced him into it."_

"_I don't care." Jose snarled, pulling away from Antonio, rage brimming from him. "And still, why the hell do you care, aren't you supposed to be my friend!"_

"_Jose, I am bu-_

"_But nothing, just get out of here!" Jose was now at the top of his lungs, so loud that everyone else at the party put their head in the small room to see what was going on. Antonio, not wanting to cause a scene for the crowd, shrugged his shoulder and walked away, getting back to the party, leaving Alejandro to the mercy of his brother. Isabelle, at this point, went with Antonio._

_Alejandro, who still had a bottle of beer in his hand at this point, drank one final swig as he was down. This happened to be the final swig to finally put the teen under. As he went to his drunken sleep, Daniel tried to talk to his friend, "Listen, Jose." He put a hand on his shoulder. "I know you want to get back at this kid, hell, I'd love to take a few punches to him myself, but, at least for what he did, he deserves far worse than just get beaten the snot out of." _

_Jose didn't respond, he just quietly listened, and looked upon Alejandro with fury. _

"_I mean, hell you know that I got cheated on, and I made sure that I did much more than just kick the guy's ass, I made that guy wish he was never born. Not physically but emotionally, we gotta destroy his mind I mean, mess with his head so much that he'll be too far gone."_

"_Ho-" Jose choked. "Do we do that?" _

"_Easy, I know a guy who handles in revenge stuff like this. Just, how bout' you calm down and go back to your dads ceremony or whateverthefuck and leave it all to me. Say that ol' Al here got sick and you took him to Antonio's house to rest, then pick him up later or whatever. We'll meet back up in your house at 1:00 AM and my guy and us will talk to how to get back at your shithead of a brother." Dan explained. Jose nodded at Daniel and smiled, and for once, even for what they were about to do was impure, was sincere. _

"_Thanks man, yeah, I'll do that. Just need to wash up in Antonio's sink or whatever to get the beer smell out of my mouth." He turned and went on his way. _

_Dan turned back to Alejandro, lying on the floor in a drunken sleep. _

_As Daniel looked upon him, he was reminded when his girlfriend was cheating on him, and was filled with so much blind fury that he kicked Alejandro, hard, in the side of the torso. Amazingly, Alejandro didn't notice this. Dan, sighing, knowing that was a stupid thing to do, as it could have caused the kid to wake up, felt for his phone in his pocket and upon locating it, picked it up. Opening it, he dialed the necessary numbers until it started calling the person he desired. Once it was picked up, he put the phone to his ear and spoke, _

"_Yo, __**Duncan?**__ Yeah, we need your help…"_

_Xxx_

_Alejandro woke up in a cold sweat. His body was drenched in the stuff. His as if contrary to this his throat felt barren and dry, and he coughed. It was more than a cough though, Alejandro immediately vomited. Chunks of green and brown spewed from its mouth, and hit his face and body and covers. Sitting up, Alejandro tried to project the vomit to the floor and not himself. Once it was all over, Alejandro, breathing heavily, tried to sit up, only to be hit with a throbbing pain in his head. As this was all happening, Alejandro suddenly remembered everything. The party, the kiss, _Jose_…_

"_Yo so do we got this all straightened out now?" Alejandro seemed to hear a voice from the other room. It was at this time as well that Alejandro realized that he was in his bed again, but why was he here? Shouldn't he be in Antonio's house?_

"_Yeah, thanks again __**Duncan **__for helping us with this." Alejandro recognized the voice, Jose, replied. _

"_Hey." The new, unknown voice chuckled, although Alejandro assumed this was the 'Duncan'. "As long as your gonna pay me, I don't care. Speakin' of which, when are you gonna pay me…"_

"_After when the job's done." Dan finished. "So you won't just run out of us the second we give it to you." _

_Duncan seemed to chuckle at that. "Smart. But uh, speakin' of that, I mean, I know I'm going to have to be the one to hoist him up and whatever, but, uh, just keep the money on standby so I can get it quick, 'kay? It's just, you guys have no idea how hard it was to bust out Juvie, and travel from two countries down here, on foot. I don't want all that work to go to waste just for one fuckup so I can just be sent back there again. Plus, a white guy with a green Mohawk kinda stands out in Mexico…"_

"_We get it, we'll give you the money the second you get the job done… but no later." Dan replied. "Say, where are you gonna head after this anyway?"_

"_I kinda wanna make it to the bottom of South America, just to say that I've done it, then… Who the fuck knows, maybe I'll hitch a boat to Europe or some shit." _

"_Ever think of returning to Canada?"_

"_Maybe… I guess…"_

"_Guys." Jose's voice was back. "We should get him now." _

_Alejandro could hear his heart pound as his bedroom door open, revealing the light. The latino quickly ducked under his covers as the three went in. _

"_Oh Ally…" Jose muttered. "Get up." _

_Alejandro shivered with fright but did as was told, and poked his head under the covers. His eyes surveyed the three standing towering over him, Jose and to a lesser extent Daniel looked livid, while the one in the middle, who Alejandro assumed was Duncan, who looked to be about the same age as Alejandro, and was chuckling under his breath. _

"_Aw man, kid looks like he's gonna shit his pants."_

"_You're not much older." Daniel raised an eyebrow. _

"_Come on Al." Jose gritted his teeth. "Let's go for a walk."_

_Immediately Alejandro was shoved to the ground by Jose, and was picked up by Daniel, like a ragdoll. Both teens pushed the young Latino out the door and down the stairs. _

"_Whe-Where are mother and father?" Alejandro asked. _

"_They're both at work." Jose answered simply. "I was allowed to stay at home from school due to take care of you and your _illness. _Now get outside." _

_Daniel and Jose both shoved Alejandro out the door, and onto the sidewalk, where the two eldest teens instructed Alejandro to look normal and keep his mouth shut. He did as they complied. _

_About 10 minutes later, Alejandro realized that they were all approaching the school now, Alejandro's school. However before they started to step foot on school grounds, Jose pulled Alejandro to the back of a building, with Daniel in tow. Duncan followed, but scrunched his eyebrow, "Hey, why are we stopping here, this isn't part of the plan." _

"_No, but I just had to do this first…" Immediately after Jose replied that, he decked Alejandro in the right side of his jaw, causing the Latino to yelp in pain and tumble to the pavement. Jose was going for another punch, however Duncan widened his eyes and quickly held Jose's arm back before he did so. _

"_Hey what the hell are you doing?" Duncan yelled. _

"_Why the fuck do you care!?" Jose snarled back. _

"_Hey, I agreed to pranking this kid hardcore, not to beat the crap out of him!" Duncan answered, quite forcefully in fact. _

"_Well you better agree to it…" Daniel came up and poked Duncan right in the chest. "Or you're not going to get paid." _

_Duncan was about to retort but stood wide eyed. Turning his face into a frown he slumped his shoulders and sighed, and grumbled. "Fine." _

_He needed that money. _

_After 5 whole minutes of Jose wailing on Al, they picked him up and pushed him over to where the school was, before pushing him into Duncan. "Here, do your side of the job, and we'll give you your money." Jose said. _

_Duncan's laughing side was gone now. "Fine, asshole." Duncan sneered back as he pushed Alejandro to the school yard. Some of the kids now could see the somewhat injured Alejandro and looked on from the windows, recognizing him as one of their classmates. Duncan pushed Alejandro to the flagpole now, where the Mexican flag was not hanged due to it being worn and torn, and was being replaced. Duncan's face came up to the side of Alejandro's as he whispered, "Sorry about this man, your brother's a fucking asshole, I know. But I seriously need the money, and your brother has plenty of it. Hope everything turns out good for you in the end, and no hard feelings." _

_Duncan immediately, and effortlessly, ripped Alejandro's jeans from him, completely removing them, only leaving the boxers. With his left hand, Duncan held Alejandro by the shirt firmly in place to the pole, where in the right he punctured the metal hookthingymajig __**[4]**__ through the boxers and did some quick motions which Alejandro could not identify. Than with one swift push, __**it **__happened. _

_Alejandro was rocketed upward, by underwear, and was given the most excruciating wedge of his life. When it was all done, Alejandro was just hanging there, like a flag. All the people now, it was now evolved into a crowd, watching, looked closely for a moment at what was occurring, as if to properly identify was taking place. One kid who figured it out first, slowly pointed his finger at the airborne Alejandro and opening his mouth, he chuckled. _

_The chuckling was mimicked by the crowd to, and soon it turned into a roar of laughter from both children and parents, all pointing hysterically to the airborne Latino. Alejandro was helpless in this, and could only stare on, looking at his mockery from above. And in that moment, all the dread seemed to manifest itself into weight, heavy enough for the metalhookthingymajig, to start to tear into his boxers. Tear for a few seconds, but enough to rip Alejandro's boxers entirely, and he was released from his wedgie. _

_Only to be dropped right back onto the ground. _

_Alejandro yelped out in pain as he fell on his back. Quickly he kneeled up and grabbed the injured area with his hands, to relive the pain, still with the chortles of laughter in his ear. _

"_That ain't all folks!" Duncan yelled to the crowd. Very quickly, the punk pulled out a small remote control device and pushed a button. Slowly but surely after which, TV's that were only supposed to be in use during special and ceremonial occasions jutted out of the school walls. With a flicker of white light, the monitors came to life, and what being depicted on it made Alejandro's heart heavy even more. _

_His drunkenness yesterday. _

_The Alejandro on the screen was being videotaped by Antonio. He was at the pool table now, and Alejandro was playing with the pool cues with some other boys, no more than his age. However there faces were blurred out, except Alejandro's of course. _

"_How you enjoying the party dude?" The off screen Antonio laughed. _

"_Awwwweeeesssoooommeee." The on screen Alejandro slurred with liquor, followed by a few belches. _

"_You're so drunk man, how many have you had?"_

"_Don'ta knowa." Alejandro laughed, as he dropped a beer bottle to the ground breaking it. _

"_Yo, with that accent you kinda sound like Mario." The off-screen Antonio chuckled again. _

"_It's a meeeeee alejandriooooooooo!" Alejandro laughed in reply._

_The whole crowd watched the idiocy unfold, as it continued in the video. Alejandro stared wide eyed at it, before turning away in shame, as his eardrums filled with Duncan and the others mockery. Everyone knew that he drank underage. _

"_Son." Alejandro's teary eyes looked up to see a Mexican police officer standing over him. "I'm sorry to do this, but you're under arrest due to underage consumption of alcohol."_

"_What." Alejandro replied, not realizing what was happening, as he was being stood up by the officer. _

"_I'm sorry, son." The officer sighed. "But they just passed legislation that we have to be stricter on underage drinking, most other times, unless there wasn't anything else they were doing anything wrong, we'd let it slide. But because this of the new legislation that was being passed, coupled with it just being shown in full view in front of all these people, I gotta take you in." The cop suddenly turned his head to Duncan who was still laughing and gawking, pointing his face at the video, not realizing what was going on. "But we're also going to make sure that this kid gets in trouble too due to tampering with electronics that he wasn't supposed too, and injuring you in such a way." He eyed Alejandro's black and blues that Jose gave him, but assumed that Duncan did. _

"_Seize this boy too!" The officer shouted. Sure enough, before Duncan could even realize what was happening, 3 Mexican officers came upon the delinquent, forcing him to the ground as he struggled to get free, and placing him in handcuffs. _

"_Hey wait, aw come on, gimme a break!" Duncan yelled as he tried to struggle free. _

"_You are under arrest for assaulting a minor and unlawful tampering with electronics, not to mention illegal immigration into Mexico without a proper passport." The other officer gruffly answered. "We know who you are, we got reports from Canadian and American authorities that a minor escaped into here and might be in the area, what we didn't know is that he'd make his appearance so easily know by pulling a stunt like this that it'd be a piece of cake to locate him." The gruffer, and more mean, officer pushed Duncan along the grass as the onlookers watched in curiosity. The gruffer officer turned to the other and said, "Load the other kid here too." _

_The other officer sighed but nodded and carefully prodded Alejandro along to the cop car that was there. Alejandro simply stared at the ground and kept walking, misery enveloping him now, and quietly sat into the back seat, whilst Duncan kicked and struggled to get free as the officer seemed to throw him in the back seat with Alejandro. _

"_Wait, I didn't hurt the kid! It was his brother! If I'm going to get put back I want to for the right reason!" Duncan was frantic now, in total panic mode. He quickly whipped his head toward Alejandro. "Tell 'em kid! Tell 'em that your brother kicked your ass!" _

"_I'll have you know that Jose Burromeurto is a great kid!" The gruffer one, who was sitting shotgun, retorted as the other officer got into the driver's seat. _

"_Go on, tell 'em!" Duncan seemed to plead with Alejandro now. "Why aren't you saying anything, kid!" _

_Alejandro, a singular tear dripping from his eye, choked, "It wouldn't matter, everyone believes Jose." _

_Duncan looked at Alejandro for a second, the smaller kid's green eyes, the look of sorrow and pain and struggle. But he couldn't believe it, Duncan couldn't believe a person could be that broken as to not implicate a son of a bitch like his brother. In rage and anger Duncan screamed from the car. _

"_Jose, get fucking Jose!" _

_And as Duncan was screaming his expletives in full force, with the other officers trying to quell him. Alejandro looked out of the window, and from the crowd who was standing there, looking at him, he could distinctly see Jose from the crowd. Smirking always smirking at Alejandro. _

_He would always win, and there was nothing Alejandro could change that. _

"_Wakey… wakey… Al…"_

_Xxx_

"Alejandro…" Courtney choked over him now. "Please wake up…" She turned to Hay. "You said he would wake up by now!"

"He will, he will, just a moment- ah, I think he is, look." John Hay pointed to the eyes of the Latino, as they fluttered open. Alejandro was still breathing heavily, and sweat was drenched over him, and it took him a moment to distinguish Courtney as the person hovering above him. For the first time, the Latino was speechless, and manipulation wasn't the first thing that came to his mind when he saw Courtney's face. He merely coughed and sat up, still breathing quite heavily. Both Courtney and John stepped back a bit, to give Alejandro some space. Once enough time was passed, John was the first to break it.

"Mr. Burromeurto, are you… okay?"

The question was simple, but as Alejandro's ears processed the sound, he was immediately reminded of the horror he had just endured yet again, the anger and frustration that he so longed tried to suppress. Gulping the Latino nodded his head, awareness resurfacing to him now.

He _cannot_ show weakness.

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine."

"Good, well, good." John Haye nodded. It was then Alejandro realized that he had no idea who this new person was.

"Who are you?" Alejandro asked again, all emotion drained from speech.

"John, John Hay." The man replied. "I, well, I was sent to check up on you two…"

"Oh." That was all Alejandro could say. In all honesty he was too drained to even remotely give a shit about this guy, or why he was here. He needed too, he needed too… yes win the challenge! And… get Courtney!

Alejandro stood up now, flinching a bit.

"You should probably sit down, Alejandro, uh, I mean, to get your bearings." John Hay said, startled that the Latino stood up so quickly.

"That will not be necessary." Alejandro replied, cold and calculating. He turned to Courtney. "How long was I out for?"

It took a moment for Courtney to say, "A- a half hour."

"Damn." Alejandro's fist tightened. So much time was lost due to… _that. _"I apologize for my language senorita, and apologizes greatly for hindering us on the subject of time…" He turned to John Hay.

"But I trust that all my work in this endeavor succeeded in _opening up the door." _Alejandro said, almost as if it was a threat. John Hay quickly nodded, understanding Alejandro's tone.

"Yes, the door has been opened, exactly as the placard instructed. And you are free to climb up to the summit of the mountain do to the passage, as Chris instructed us to do for you both."

"About time." Courtney huffed. Alejandro assented to that sentiment with a nod, and started walking towards the door with her. With Mr. Hay following close behind them. They were almost at the door, until, once again, an unknown young man in a blue uniform ran toward the doorway, almost as if in a panic.

"John, bad news, the rebels are closing in on the mountain, and in great numbers!" The soldier huffed out.

"What!" Hay's face was white now. "The rebels, that can't be, we were told that they were going to get here in an hour!"

"We were wrong sir, or at least given wrong Intel." The soldier replied. "However Welles will not be here with his ships with Sherman's or Grant's army's in an hour!"

"An hour!" Hay was horrified. "But-but, this how shall we hold them off until then!"

"We can't." The soldier got to the point. "That's why we must retreat and protect the _Tycoon_ at all costs-

"Who is this Tycoon?" Alejandro interrupted quickly.

"And who are these rebels?" Courtney asked, still annoyed that she had no idea what was going on and Hay seemed to refuse to tell her a simple answer. Hay himself turned around with his head and gulped. "Apologies but, I am unable to tell you that at this time, but, for your safety, in the _competition _I urge you to follow us and escape before they come."

"Yes, the plan of action is for us to hide out in the forest until Welles comes with reinforcements." The other soldier explained. "We need to-

"No." Alejandro interrupted again as he stepped forward now, rage cropping up. "Before you tell us what to do we will like to have some answers on what is going on."

"Sir, I already said that I cannot-

"My position remains clear." Alejandro was firmly in place. "Tell us what exactly is going on, or we do not move."

"Yeah." Courtney agreed.

The soldier was frantic now. "You think you don't understand about what's happening here well what about us!? You two have no idea about the forces at work that's happening, not even us! This, Chris and the _programmers_ have so much control and can eliminate us with a push of a button if we wanted too. So, aaah!"

A blue beam pierced through the frantic soldier's dialogue, and hit him in the side. A blue light enveloped the soldier, a great blue light that blinded the two teens and Hay, causing them to shield their eyes with their hands. A scream could be heard, the scream of the soldier standing in a fixated place that he was in. A whiter light emerged from the blue and enveloped the soldier as the sound diminished and then a quick darkness came.

And just like that he was gone.

"Wha-what?" Courtney choked out, as the three stared to the spot where the soldier was seemingly vaporized.

"We have you all apprehended."

Suddenly, an older looking man with a white beard came from the entrance, with 50 or so gray uniformed soldiers, holding muskets. The older looking man, the leader of the group, looked quite prestigious, like a general should look, and used a brief hand signaled gesture to command the troops to surround the three of them, which they did with great haste.

Alejandro stood firm against them however, stepping up and gesturing John and Courtney to get behind him, which they did.

The older looking man with a white beard stepped to the front towards Alejandro. He did not look malicious, in fact, he looked depressed by what was going on, yet it seemed like due to it being his duty he had to follow through with what he was told. Whether he enjoyed it or not.

"Mr. Hay, you have been apprehended by us and we urge you, and both teenagers you have in your possession at this moment, down to the docks. We have abducted all of the members of cabinet and got rid of all of your troops." The man said slowly.

"Did you-did you get-" Hay stammered.

"No." The older man shook his head, almost answering his question for it. "We did not get _your leader_ he managed to escape. However I have sent a small group of men to apprehend him so it will not take much time." He explained.

Hay seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at that, just for a moment. "The _tycoon _is safe." He breathed under his breath.

"I cannot say for this gentlemen here," Alejandro gestured to Hay. "But I refuse to go along with any of you."

"Yes." Courtney agreed again.

The old man looked at Alejandro, and then at Courtney, and breathed a long sigh. "I understand your reasoning. And, damn, it's hard to be in a place like this and not knowing what's going on. The frustration of being told around can weigh on a person. I _hate_ Secession, and _loath_ Slavery, but for the state of Virginia, I have to go on with this duty." It seemed like the man was talking to himself for a moment. Alejandro looked at the man with confusion, having no idea what he was saying, but held his ground. And for a moment, Alejandro's walls that he had built up fractured, and he spoke as he felt.

"You have no idea how much I've had to go through to be where I am today. And what I had to endure just to get a door open. So I hope you understand that I _hate _the notion of going with you, and _loath_ to be the prisoner of anyone." Alejandro spoke with resound. Courtney looked at Alejandro for a moment, surprised at his change of attitude, but amazed by it. The old general sighed.

"I do not fault you for thinking that. But as General _Lee_, the general of these forces, I must do this. You will come with us."

The gray soldiers began advancing on them now, and Alejandro hardened his stance as he got closer. Seeing a gap in the formation, the Latino quickly dove for it, barreling through some of the gray soldiers, as they tumbled the muskets fired with the same blue laser that the one soldier was hit with, hitting the ceiling.

The other soldiers all fired at Alejandro, and as the latino ran, and dodged them, almost getting hit by one, he approached the drop off. Going on pure instinct now, not knowing what would happen if even a molecule of his would touch the beam. Seeing that there a few rocks jutting out of the rocky structure, Alejandro quickly jumped on one, dodging a blast. However the weight was too strong, and quickly sent Alejandro down to the trees below, for a very long fall.

The gray soldiers ran to the opening, and were about to pursue him, before Lee shouted. "Don't persist, let him get away, our main priority is to get Hay to the docks."

The gray soldiers turned around and nodded and soon went back to the rest of the soldiers, who now were all caroling Hay and Courtney into the door. Courtney still looked out of that opening, and was amazed that Alejandro escaped. Something was different about Alejandro, something that Courtney did not notice previously.

"Alejandro…" Courtney muttered under her breath as she and Hay were led through the door.

Xxx

As the clouds continued to darken the skies, a mild drizzle followed, showering the landscape with indescribable small speckles of rain. An equally small breeze also passed over the whole mountain, making all of the inhabitants shiver for a moment, just a small moment. As if it was warning them of the time that would come soon.

As Gwen left back down the mountain, Noah himself watched the rain and wind from a small cave that he found to rest at. The bookworm was near the entrance of this place, slouching, not caring if small rain droplets touched his arm.

Noah, remembering these things, breathed in a deep breath before expelling it through his nose in a huff. Almost absentmindedly, he made the 'Spock' signal with his right hand. Staring at the sign now, he recalled it as a sign of emergency, that Noah said from the very first day his whole gambit started, would be something that if anyone in it were to be in distress, would signal it.

However the Gambit that Noah so hard worked to achieve was gone now. And shortly soon, if this wasn't a reward challenge, Alejandro and Duncan would band together and vote him off, sending him back to Canada, with no million dollar reward.

_Have you forgotten the whole reason you made the gambit in the first place?_

His cynical, and more intellectual side spoke to him. Noah's eyes blinked as he stared at the scenery, remembering now. The whole reason that Duncan listened to him, the whole reason that he got to know Gwen so well over the past few days, was because of Noah's threat. He could expose them, he could expose them both at what they had done.

Yes, what was stopping Noah from doing that? It was always plan B right? If Duncan or Gwen walk out of it he'd just expose them to everyone. If the event went public it would change everything in the game. They all would turn against Duncan and Gwen, including Alejandro. Courtney would very well launch a crusade for Duncan's and Gwen's head. Noah also didn't have to tell anyone about the alliance component of everything, who would believe Duncan or Gwen, now exposed as 'cheaters' over Noah? Besides Alejandro, no one.

Noah would be safe again, at least for the short term and lay low, while he watched everyone else to succumb to the now chaotic anarchy if he let the cat out of the bag. All he had to do now, was find someone, anyone, Ezekiel, Courtney, Heather, whomever, and tell what transpired on that fateful London eve…

_Cody…_

Noah's lesser side, his emotional side, now spoke to him. Without speaking, his eyes widened. Those words that Justin said still held true, Cody would be devastated if this truth came out. That the girl he had been pinning for a little under a year has rejected him. And by cheating…

But that wasn't the main reason why Noah felt so guilt stricken at what, logically, made the most sense to do at this desperate time. He would lose _Gwen…_

If Duncan went down when Noah told the whole world, Gwen would surely go down in the flames. Courtney would no doubt gun for her, and Heather would probably follow suit. It also didn't help that Noah told Gwen directly that he wasn't going to use that leverage against her. He'd be going against his word if he did that.

_And Alejandro doesn't lie… _

Noah's cynical side began to drive his emotions back in again, and Noah almost led himself to believe that telling everyone would be for the true good. He was the only one who could put a dent into Alejandro, everyone else was too charmed by his looks, or impressed by his talents to see that he was an eel dipped in grease like Noah had said that he was. Noah's hands turned into fists. As much as he wanted to believe that, as much as he wanted to fake into believing that again. How it will all be better in the end, and how doing it for be the best…

He couldn't.

"Hello."

Noah almost got a heart attack, as his torso quickly turned around to see darker in the cave, trying to identify the person who said the word. However the person soon, slowly but surely, walked out of the dark spot of the cave, and into the light so Noah could see him. Noah's mouth was a gape for a moment, almost marveling at the man.

He was so tall that his head would have hit the ceiling if he had stood up straight, so he was forced to lean inward for a bit. He had a beard, not the longest ever but quite long all the same. The suit that he wore was perplexing, ragged and worn but presentable, and judging by the unknown man's demeanor it was easy to judge that he did not get much sleep. There was also something else that Noah felt the man was… missing. He recognized the man, but one common feature was throwing him off at deducing of who he was. As the man approached Noah, smiling humbly he simply took a seat next to Noah and stared out of the cave, to the cloudy scenery far out. Noah looked at him, wondering if he was going to say anything more to him. Noah himself would have asked who he was, but due to his great many thoughts circling through his head, it seemed like he couldn't find any words to be coherent.

"My apologies if I have startled you, Noah." The man started to talk again, turning his head and smiling at him. A deep and warm smile.

"How did you know my name?" Noah managed to reply. Even as he was sitting, the new figure seemed to tower over Noah. The man shook his head for a moment.

"I cannot say." He said for a brief moment before continuing. "Although I can share with your frustration with this, of not knowing I what to do I mean."

Noah, not quite understanding what the man was saying, simply nodded and stared back out at the scenery.

"That girl, you're quite fond of her." The man said with a genuine smile. Noah eyes widened as he looked back at him, the man still with his cheery smile. "But your dilemma, if I may speak freely, is to whether to follow what you think is morally just, or to do something that may not be moral, but will be the benefit of all to take down a common enemy. On a smaller scale, your problem and my problem aren't so different, although sadly mine is so grand that I was forced to do the one most logistic, the realist way down. However you may not have to do what I did…" The man seemed to ramble on.

"There's a story I know of: _A law-abiding citizen once found himself looking down the barrel of a gun. This attacker severely underestimated his target, who lunged forward and took the weapon. "Stop!" hollered the crook. "Give me back that pistol; you have no right to my property!"_

The man gave a big and hearty laugh at his story, a bit boisterous and hard laugh. Noah struggled to think of what was so funny about the story when the man eventually stopped laughing. "What I mean is that morality differs from person to person, almost to the point of stupidity. And, with something small like this, one can afford to put his morality ahead of others." The man seemed to sigh for a moment. "God knows that I had to push my morality aside for the greater good, but you don't." The man stood up now, towering over Noah more so again. "I'm afraid that's all my time allotted, I have to get back to my work." The tall man proceeded to walk back now, into the shadows.

Noah blinked once he was gone, and for a moment thought that he went crazy for a moment, and imagined it all. The man came so quickly yet left so fast, and his words didn't make sense either. But what he said about morality… and about his problems being small…

For a second Noah felt ashamed about being sad, how big were his problems on a large scale anyhow? Very minor, even if it was for a million dollars. With all the crime and corruption and hate in the world, Noah shouldn't be sitting here, in this cave, worrying about what he was 'supposed' to do, to care that if Alejandro won the season it would bring the whole world into ruin. Hell, _Lincoln_, had to combat much worse during the Civil War and he never took a break in a cave…

Noah widened for a moment and turned around, almost as if he was about to figure out something, but it eluded him when he was so close. A chilling breeze blew out now, scraping Noah's back as it was turned. Noah shook his head and stood up, realizing something more important now, the certainty at what he was going to do. Quickly, he started to walk briskly out of the cave and down the mountain, to Gwen and the others.

Xxx

_Hmm…_

A new figured now loomed over monitors, different monitors, three to be exact.

One showed the various teens and men captures, and them being led to the newly built docks on the beach, ready to be escorted back to the mainland, or wherever the _programmers _decided to take them.

"This will do nicely, now these variables will not interfere…"

The next monitor showed, Alejandro falling from the mountain, in great pain, and another Noah trekking down the mountain. The figure smiled.

"Both of these will not make any difference."

He turned away from them now.

"Yes, our side, the just side, shall win in the _programmers _and _Chris's_ game. _Welles_ won't be here for a while, and when we get here, we'll be far from this place, earning favor with the programmers."

The figure chuckled at this.

"Yes, I, _Davis,_ shall lead this nation into a great rebirth. One where will never look back."

Xxx

**Authors Notes: Now, I'm sure that there are a TON of question about how much confusing content has been introduced. So let's go by this one at a time. **

**The older men and soldiers, and Justin running around the island are important, and am something I am very EXCITED about when the big reveal will come, as I think it will give many a double take. I want it to be a surprise that I'm not going to give any hints on who these men are. And if you have a guess about who these are… I guess you can 'guess' in the reviews! Where I'll neither confirm nor deny your statements, until the next chapter comes. **

**Next, I'm sure you can all realize that this is not going to be a usual two parter challenge set up chapters. No, there will be another third part of the 'Mountain of Memories' arc, which will wrap up everything, and explain a big part of just exactly what the hell is going on around here. **

**Next, onto the chapter itself. Barring from the confusing stuff that 95% of you all have no idea what's going on, I understand that there hasn't been a lot of Noah in this chapter. That's because this chapter was largely conceived due to the Alejandro's flashback portion, which was the meat of the chapter. Now, I must explain why I did this, and this tie's into my personal feelings of how I feel about Alejandro in Canon as a whole. **

**I do not like Alejandro. Now, this isn't because he's 'evil' or 'mean', I could care less about stuff like that. It's just because, in TDWT and in TDAS, he's just so god damn uninteresting. Basically, the guys just a Spanish version of Mal with the only two things that give the guy any remote character is Alejandro/Heather and the Jose thing. Because I don't like Alejandro/Heather, I've chose to go to the latter of delving more into Al's character. This is because, I don't want Al to be a one note boring piece of crap like in canon. And I hope you enjoyed a delve into Alejandro's character, because from now on, Al's going to be an important character in this story. Very important. Not so much to overshadow Noah or Gwen, but enough so that he'll be in the character filter, and be a main character like Duncan and Ezekiel are. Hell, what am I saying, at this point, all of the characters are pretty much important to the plot. And yes, the Duncan who gave Al that wedgie is the same Duncan. You'll learn more about that in the next chapter, why Duncan and Alejandro didn't recognize each other I mean. And will be delved deeper into. Unlike that Duncan and Mal plot from All Stars. **

**All right, so now…onto the annotations! **

**[1]- Courtney's little scene was kinda hard to write, for multiple reason. The first one being is that I absolutely despise Courtney. She's by far my least favorite character in the series. Second is that I also despise Duncan/Courtney. It's by far my least favorite pairing. However it had to be done for plot. Moving on. **

**[2]- To be honest, it'd be more realistic if conversations in Al's past should be happening in Spanish. But… I honestly don't want to go on google translate and look up a bunch of translations for what they're saying and just put the translations in the endnotes. That'd be too much, and frankly, not an enjoyable read. So, just pretend in your mind that they're speaking in Spanish, except when they were speaking to Duncan of course. **

**[3]- Isabelle is not TD Izzy. In ANY WAY. It's just a nickname that Jose called her. There are no connections to Izzy and Isabelle. **

**[4]- I couldn't find the right word for that mean. You know, that hook thingymajig that they always have on flagpoles to hook the flag thingy with the doohickey with the other thingy and the… dang, I can't really explain it. But yeah, that's what it is. **

**Also with regards to the Alejandro scenes stuff and regards to the setting. I am not an expert on Mexican culture, laws, history and so forth. Furthermore, I have no knowledge on Mexico City. So, the setting that I described about Mexico City is most likely not accurate. He only research I did was to find out the legal drinking age in Mexico. Which is 18 for must alcohol and 20 for the really strong stuff. If you guys can correct me in the reviews (don't be a Harold about it though) about some of it, that'd be great :D **

**So that's the end of that. Yep so a bunch of stuff happened in this chapter that'll get answered again. Before I go, I must say that the large reason why this chapter was finished today was because I got inspired hearing that THE KOBOLD NECROMANCER ANNOUNCED THAT HIS 125 WAYS TO KILL A ZOMBIE NOVEL IS FINISHED! **

**AND THAT HE'S GOING TO UPDATE TDBG IN THE FUTURE!**

**So yeah, when the novel gets published eventually, I highly advise you buy it or check it out for yourselves. TKN is an awesome writer and he deserves it. Plus TDBG IS COMING BACK!**

**But yeah, ciao. **

**-ewisko**


	14. Mountain of Memories Part 3

**AUTHORS NOTES: Well...huh. Apparently you guys did figure out it was the Civil War. Cool. Cool. Because of that I made some changes to this chapter, as I don't want them not knowing what this place is based on is redundant or not. In this, most of them are aware that this is some sort of Civil War thing, but just don't say it. Except with a brief gag with Cody. **

**Other than that, I'll save the rambling in the end notes**

* * *

_After the cops both took Alejandro and Duncan in, the arrest process wasn't that far too different from Canada. They were told their rights, had mugshots taken, and were offered one phone call. Whilst Alejandro declined to take his, Duncan, in blind rage, called up Daniel again, demanding that he should come clean that he didn't beat up Alejandro but Jose did. After this, Daniel just replied with a simple but stern 'fuck off' and hung up the phone, prompting Duncan out of new frustration to slam the receiver back, in addition to cursing heavily in English. _

_With this out of the way, the two policemen that arrested both Alejandro and Duncan threw them into the holding cell, which would be their 3 day home until the trial, where they would await their fate. _

_As Duncan sat on the bed, grabbing the sheets tightly now, anger dripping from his skin, he jerked his head upward, seeing Alejandro simply sitting on the floor, looking through the bars on the jail cell. _

"_So this is it then, you're going to screw me over, huh." Duncan walked over, slowly to Alejandro. "Not telling the police what really happened, is that it?" _

_Alejandro, sulking, looked up to face the delinquent, and it surprised Duncan that he saw a few tears in Alejandro's eyes. _

"_It would be futile, you can't beat Jose… No one can beat Jose…" Alejandro seemed to manage to choke out. "He'll…he'll… do something worse if we try to fight him…"_

_As Duncan processed what Alejandro was saying, everything seemed to hit him again, at what was going around him. _

_All that work Duncan accomplished, lying, cheating, stealing, to get where he was today. _

_Both borders he crossed. _

_The friends that he made. _

_The promise he made to __**Carla**_

_Duncan clutched the white letter he had in his pocket, something that was given to him by in Northern Mexico._

_He needed to get to Chile to deliver it to her Grandfather. _

_But with this __**fucking **__parasite and his __**fucking **__brother. _

"_Fuck it!" Duncan, with all his blind rage, picked up Alejandro by the collar of his shirt and slammed him into to the side of the cell, holding him up in the air. "Listen you little shit, I'm only going to say this once. I can fucking care less about you or your asshole of a brother. And I am not going to let you and your family screw me over of some bull shit assault charge to get me in, and to screw away all of this fucking effort for __**Carla."**__ Duncan didn't even realize that Alejandro had no idea what he was talking about. "So you're going to, right now, call one of these guards and tell them that it was your brother who kicked the shit out of you, and not me, or you're going to see me kick your ass just harder than your brother did." _

_Alejandro's green eyes simply stared back at Duncan, devoid of emotion. And it scared Duncan that the guy didn't even flinch, after everything that happened. _

"_You-you don't get it do you." Alejandro choked out. "You actually think that you can stand up to them, you actually think that anything matters to me at this point? I'm dead, my whole future is dead, my whole family probably hates me right now, what you're going to due to me is of no concern… It's actually a relief in some way." Alejandro chuckled. "I'm so far down in the gutter that nothing matters, don't have to care about my family, or my grades, or Jose… I'm finally liberated from all of it. So yeah, Duncan, beat me up, whoop my ass, __**fucking murder me**__, because at this point, I don't give a damn about what anything happens to me anymore." _

_Duncan stared back at Alejandro, those green, numb, eyes staring into his very soul. Everything was crashing down now, everything, everything, everything…_

_His parent…_

_His promise to Carla…_

_Duncan…_

_Duncan…_

_Doo'ncan.._

* * *

"Doo'ncan…" Ezekiel was over Duncan's head, talking to him.

With that Duncan quickly sprang his eyes awake, and as if he was in panic mode, immediately jumped to his face, knocking Ezekiel down in the process. Quickly his eyes scanned around and saw that most of the other Total Drama contestants, and even some other people that he didn't know, were in the room with him as well. The room was colored bright orange, and it hurt Duncan's eyes to look at the walls.

It was then Duncan realized where he was, which was a challenge, and that he just barreled down Ezekiel.

"Sorry." Duncan bent down and offered Ezekiel a hand, which the prarie boy accepted.

"Uh, that's o-kay, I shouldn't have startled yoo'…" Ezekiel said as he stood back up.

"You didn't startle me." Duncan cut Zeke off, a bit quicker than was socially acceptable. "I just…" He faltered, eyes turning away. "Was remembering something that happened a long time ago that I'd like to forget."

"O-kay." Ezekiel nodded his head. He had been around Duncan enough today to tell that he was on edge and didn't really mean to be abrupt with him.

"Someone's finally awake…" Heather, who said that, strolled over by them, Cody in tow. "Heard you got knocked out pretty bad by Katie back there." She teased.

"Shut it." Duncan snarled back at her. "She was in that robo kung fu thing Beth and Harold were in last season."

"Jeez, can't take a joke?" Heather asked, hands on her hips. Both Ezekiel, and more so Cody at this point, were a bit confused at how Heather was acting… which was noticeable more nicer and cheerful than she usually was. Duncan saw this as well, but dropped it. **[1]**

"Can anyone of you three just tell me where the hell we are?" He asked.

"Well, when you were out cold, those gray guys in uniforms brought us to a ship they docked just off the Island and now we're in the holding area…" Justin walked up and informed. Duncan looked at Justin for a second, a bit confused.

"And when did you come here… wait Chris brought you here to screw with us right?" Duncan snapped his fingers. Justin nodded his head.

A slight lull of conversation took place, until Duncan asked again, "So are all of us here?"

"Everyone except for Noah and Alejandro." Cody replied. "Most of the blue soldiers are also caught too, except their leader apparently, who John and Nicolay keep calling the _Tycoon." _

"To be truthful with you all I would tell you who exactly he is but Hay has forbidden me not to." A unknown man to Duncan, walked up and said, joining the rather large conversation now.

"Come now Nicolay," Another unknown man, walked over. "It is for our best interest of winning over Chris that we do not inform the contestants about these matters."

"And I've told you repeatedly, friend, that I could care less about what the programmers or what Chris says." Nicolay replied.

"And I could give less of a fuck what you both are saying." Duncan rolled his eyes. Both Nicolay and John looked at Duncan curiously at that, and a bit surprised. Duncan looked them back with a similar look. "Never heard the 'f' bomb before?"

"Not so nonchalantly, I haven't." Nicolay answered, clearly not liking Duncan's tone. "But bar that, I do think, if John will kindly let me do that, that there is hope to our escape."

"There is?" Courtney said, walking over to the group as well, with Katie and Sadie following close behind her.

"Yes, I'll spare the details regarding names but there is a force of about 3 ships that in an 3 hours' time, unless the rebels catch the Tycoon and two of your remaining friends still on the run and start sailing the ship away from this place, that will engage this vessel and our enemies and surely ensure our liberation." He eyed John. "I trust I used all the correct terminology to ensure the vaugness?"

"I would like it if 'rebels' weren't being used in this sentence, as do to what our Gray enemies slipped up on saying, but yes, it was fine." John Hay, rubbed his chin.

"_Lee…" _Courtney mumbled. "That's who captured us…"

"_Union…"_ Cody muttered. "They were talking about something like that… wait!" He held up his hands. "Rebels, Union, Lee, Tycoon… And you're John Hay!" Cody pointed to Hay.

"Yes," John Hay sighed, fearing what was coming next.

"I remember reading a book on this a long time ago that I actually leant to Noah before the competition, we must be in the CIVIL-

"Hello all." Suddenly a door opened and a random gray soldier came in, interrupting Cody. Everyone in the room seemed to glare at the soldier, which made the soldier jump a bit. In southern accent he stated, "I have just been informed to tell you all that you need to look at the above monitor for information concerning an Alejandro Burromuerto-

"What!" Duncan suddenly interrupted. "Burromuerto!"

The gray soldier blinked, "Uh yes, Burromeurto."

"The one in the show." Courtney rolled her eyes at Duncan. Duncan turned to Courtney, than to the gray soldier, than back to Courtney, than to the gray soldier, and snapped his fingers. "That's a coincidence, both of them having the same last name…"

"What are you talking about?" Courtney raised her eyebrow.

"Forget it." Duncan quickly dismissed. "Just roll the footage." He directed that last part to the soldier. The soldier nodded his head and quickly went back and soon the lights dimmed in the room, with the monitor above the doorway flickering to life. On it, appeared a certain Chris Mclean.

"Hello, this is a pre-recorded message that I made about 10 minutes ago before you are probably going to watch this. Now I know you're probably all jumping with questions and would like answers. Well…I'm not going to tell any of you about what's happening here!"

"Jerk." Heather huffed.

"Anyways, what I am going to tell you is going to probably greatly piss off ol' Duncan over here…"

"The hell is he talking about?" Duncan narrowed his eyes.

"Well, here it goes." Chris disappeared and soon appeared a picture of a small sickly Latino kid's mugshot. "This here's a kid who got arrested about 5 years ago. Now here's some juicy info that you people may not be aware about, this is the kid who got Duncan arrested when he was traveling down from America and into Mexico, escaping from Juvenile hall."

"You went to Mexico?" Cody turned and asked. Duncan gave a curt nod to Cody before returning to the monitor, now very curious on what was going to happen.

"You see, this kid testified in court that Duncan assaulted him-

"You beat up someone!?" Courtney turned to Duncan, raging mad.

"Watch the rest." Duncan said calmly, and motioned with his head to the screen.

"Well, after just a half hour ago we found some evidence to prove that the kid lied, and Duncan was falsely convicted. Basically, the only thing Duncan did was get paid to give the kid a really, really bad wedgie , and not a violation of any Mexican law. The hilarious part is that this kid was so rich that his family bribed the judge to let him off scot free, but for Duncan, he was promptly taken by the Canadian authorities back up to Canada." Chris said with a smug grin.

"Where's he going with this?" Justin narrowed his eyes.

"So yeah, Duncan was falsely convicted in a crime he didn't commit, ruining his teenaged years and leading him to compete on Total Drama Island for the first time, isn't that swell!"

"No." Duncan said, looking quite miffed. "It wasn't."

"Well, we've also found some info that will also be good to hear for Duncan." Soon a picture of another Alejandro, an older and more muscular looking Alejandro, the same Alejandro that the cast has been competing with for several weeks appeared on the screen. "Now Duncan, you know good ol' Al right? Well it seemed that you knew him before as well!"

Duncan's eyes seemed to widen at this. "What?"

"Yeah, by some indescribable luck, that Alejandro that you're competing with right now, is the same person who screwed you over all those years ago!" Chris said happily.

At that point Duncan's heart stopped. "No, it can't be, it's impossible. That kid all those years was so scrawny that probably Noah could have beat him up. He couldn't be the same guy."

"There both named Burromuerto…" Ezekiel said.

"Both came from rich families…" Cody offered.

"And both are manipulative jackasses." Heather finished.

"Yep, just look at those eyes Duncan." Chris said. "Those green eyes, they're the same that screwed you all those years ago by lying…"

Duncan looked at the picture hard, so hard that it felt that his eyes were going to fall off, but then it all fell into place.

Both Alejandro Burromuerto's…. were the same person!

"Well I think I stirred enough drama here, Mclean out!" And soon after that the monitor flickered off, and light was brought back into the room.

All were silent for a period, and all eyes were on Duncan sans for Nicolay who was looking as frustrated as ever at the teens being here.

"It's him…" Duncan whispered. "I tried to find that guy all my life after that, but he was right here on this plane the whole time. If I knew that beforehand, there was no chance I'd quit the first time." He curled his hands into fists, and the anger of Noah and Gwen was quickly replaced now by the unbridled hatred he had for Alejandro at that very moment.

"Duncan…" Gwen spoke, silent until now, seeing Duncan this angry.

"We're getting out of here, now." Duncan resounded.

"What?" Ezekiel asked, confused.

"I'm getting out at least." Duncan walked towards the door. "And when I'm out I'm going to get Alejandro. I bet if I use all my strength I can probably break down that door…" Duncan started approaching the entrance, rage controlling him now, all thoughts on Alejandro.

Before anyone could stop him, Duncan threw himself against the door with all his might, but it did not budge, leaving him on his arse. Duncan repeated the same thing but with no affect for several times, all of his competitors looking at him. Cody, sighed and walked closer to Duncan.

"Look, Duncan, I know you're mad but you doing that repeatedly, isn't going to solve anything."

Duncan looked up for a moment and saw Cody's face, and then darted his head to the group, fixating on Gwen, nodding her head. Duncan looked back at the door and huffed. "You're right."

"He… took that surprisingly well." Heather whispered.

"Well, Duncan's not stupid, he can get angry at times, but he isn't stupid." Gwen replied.

"I'd beg to differ." Justin laughed cynically. However, in a blink of an eye, Justin remembered why he elected to go here in the first place. "Actually… that's not the only thing hidden in Duncan's closet."

"So, like, what should we do now?" Katie asked, interrupting Justin.

"We have to wait it out." Nicolay replied. "Wait til the reinforcements arrive."

"What about Alejandro and Noah?" Ezekiel asked.

"To be honest I forgotten about them until now." Justin replied. "There is a chance that they can save us, but I doubt it."

"It's possible." Cody offered. "Noah's smart he could probably think of something to get us all out of here."

"Alejandro too." Courtney said.

"_Alejandro…" _Duncan snarled in a low tone between his teeth. "When I get my hands on him…"

Little did Duncan know that Alejandro had his hands full already.

* * *

Alejandro dodged a stray blue streak coming from one of the many gray officers that were chasing him at this timer. Ducking from it, he rounded a small tree and barreled hard down the road, not daring to look back.

"Get back here!" One officer yelled, firing another gun. Alejandro sidestepped out of the way as he kept barreling on. It seemed now that as he got back down off the mountain, the forestry seemed to metamorphosis into a jungle. He was running from about 10 minutes now and was growing exhausted, if something didn't happen soon…

"Jump out of the way!"

Alejandro looked directly in front of him and to his surprise and chagrin, it was Noah who called out that loud statement, who seemed to be standing right in front of him. Alejandro, with not enough time to think of anything else to do, did as Noah commanded and jumped to the left, his torso scrapping the brown mud of the jungle. Noah did so as well, however all of the gray troopers did not. As Alejandro looked up now he could see all of the gray troopers still running in the same direction, until one of them stepped on an oddly shaped pile of leaves.

Immediately all the troopers seemed to fall through the ground, into a rather large hole. Alejandro cringed at the screams of falling and the twigs snapping. Alejandro, stood up now, realizing what had just happened, as he spotted Noah from a few feet away, standing up as well.

Both rivals made eye contact with each other.

"I assume you created this trap." Alejandro remarked.

"Yes." Noah said coldly. "It was something I made once I came here, there was a big hole so I just thought it might come in handy later to throw a few long twigs on it and leaves."

"I see." Alejandro replied. "Well thank you for assisting me in my little…problem."

"Save it." Noah replied, now walking away from Alejandro, near a foliage of flora.

"As you wish." Alejandro shrugged his shoulders. He was about to leave until… "Where are the others?"

"Over here." Noah gestured towards Alejandro with a jerk of the head. Alejandro quickly went over to where Noah was standing and looked through the small opening of foliage that Noah was looking at, and what he saw surprised him quite a bit.

A large brown ship seemed to be dock at a sort of wooden… well… dock, and by the looks of it Alejandro could notice some gray soldiers walking around it as if on sentry duty. A small doorway could be seen as an entrance to the mighty vessel on the side.

"I see." Alejandro replied. "They have them on there. That's a problem."

"I know." Noah answered back, a bit sharply. He gave Alejandro a skeptical glance, now looking at Alejandro's worn and torn clothes. "Where did they find you?"

"Up closer to the mountain." Alejandro replied, now walking away from the foliage. "In a small cave up there actually. I was there with Courtney and… John Hay."

"John Hay?" Noah repeated.

"Yes, a man that I assume was no less than mid-twenties." Alejandro recalled. He turned to Noah again. "Why? Does that name mean anything to you?"

"Actually, it does." Noah replied. "He was an important historical figure in American diplomacy, he helped with trade with China."

"Strange coincidence." Alejandro replied, growing a little impatient with this small talk. It seemed that Noah did too.

"Well, I'm going to try to get in there?"

"You?" Alejandro chuckled.

"And you weren't?"

"No, no, I was fully planning on trying to rescue our fellow compatriots as well, although I didn't expect you to put forth any effort in doing so, considering your last friend in this competition was gotten rid of by myself." Alejandro's face morphed into a sly smirk. Noah blinked at that, and turned to Alejandro, and surprisingly smiled back.

"Even though you have gotten Owen out of the game, you still have vastly underestimated me Alejandro."

"Oh, yes, pardon me, it seems that you're my biggest threat right now." Alejandro said in a mocking tone. "I mean, with Cody and yourself you're going to utterly crush me."

"Not Cody…" Noah shook his head. "But I do have another ally that might help me in kicking you off." He looked at the boat. Alejandro squinted his eyes at that but said nothing.

"Whatever the case maybe, I propose a truce. Just a small team up to get our teammates back from these gray troopers, sounds fair?" Alejandro said, extending his hand for a shake.

Noah looked at it for a moment, but then took it. "Fine."

"Good." Alejandro replied, looking off towards the ship now. He studied it briefly before he turned his head to Noah's. "Any ideas?"

"I think I have one that may work." Noah replied with a smirk.

* * *

The slight waves that came from the ocean rocked the huge vessel silently as the Total Drama contestants continued to wait in the waiting area that the gray soldiers confined them in. Most were sitting down now, sitting in a circle together. The only four who weren't apart were Duncan and Ezekiel, who were sitting together alone and John Hay and Nicolay, doing the same.

Nicolay himself still held a bitter resentment on the entire Total Drama cast, treating this whole thing as if it was a joke, the w_ar_, as a joke. And that anger only increased when he thought of the _programmers_, those people who put them there, ordering and dictating what they each do by no will of any of their own. But most of all he was bitter that he was thrusted into a world that was so far from his own, by none of his consent, thrusted so far into the future that he couldn't even comprehend what mankind had achieved with the Earth. It both intrigued and disgusted him.

Duncan was holding the same form of resentment, and sans Ezekiel he started to form a bitter hate of everyone. Owen for being so stupid that he left Duncan alone in a place where he was surrounded by betrayers and enemies. Gwen for holding him down, like a weight, for the entire season. And Noah, for orchestrating this all, the entire gambit. And Courtney, for being the sole reason Gwen did not wish to fully accept Duncan. But all of these people paled into comparison to the outright and undeniable hatred he had at this time for Alejandro. The same person who ruined his entire adolescence, and the person who prompted the catalyst for his entire life to go south.

Without Alejandro, there would be no Total Drama for Duncan. No Courtney, No Noah, No _Gwen. _

There would be **Carla.**

And both Duncan and Nicolay here sat, bound by past mistakes of others that they could not change. Bounded by powers that forced them to follow the orders, and not take them. And to be thrusted into a setting that they did not choose. They were similar because only one understood them at this point, Ezekiel and John.

John was with Nicolay before the _Programmers_ and after. He worked with John, was friends with him for almost all of his life, from when they practiced law or headed to Washington. And John could fully understand the hatred and frustration Nicolay was feeling, to never see his wife or kids again, but to be confided to something that he couldn't comprehend.

Ezekiel, even though he had only known Duncan for only a day, seemed to know him more than any of the other contestants at this point in time. The loneliness and bitterness that Ezekiel felt wasn't far off from Duncan. To have your destiny ruled by a pass event… For Ezekiel the only difference was that what Ezekiel said on that fateful first day of Total Drama he was fully conscious off, but he the feeling was the same. To turn back time, to prevent it from happening. What agony it can cause.

And here it was, two friends consoling two bitter ones.

While the rest were in the center.

The door to the front opened, and now all of the eyes directed upon it. Nicolay tensed his muscles, expecting Booth to come again and offer some quips or sneers, but they quickly saw that it was merely a common foot soldier. All of the people in the room seemed to glare at the footsoldier, prompting him to say his explanation for why he was here.

"President Davis ordered me to watch over you all." The foot soldier started.

"So he's fearful that we may escape." Nicolay asked, coldly, with a snark, turning his head to face him.

"Far from it, but he does not wish to leave anything to chance." The footsoldier replied.

"I assume he doesn't wish to repeat his mistakes that utterly damned the success of your acts of treason." Nicolay replied. Duncan looked at Nicolay for a moment, wondering why he was bothering to keep a conversation with this nobody... wait.

Duncan glanced over to where the footsoldier was and behind him.

The door was opened.

Duncan got up, slowly, without a sound, and walked with great care around the back of the soldier while he was talking to Nicolay.

"The Confederacy represents the true ideals of the founding fathers." The foot soldier argued.

"Yes, the ideals of being akin to a spoiled child and leaving a game if he does not get its way. Yes I'm sure those are the ideals, of _George Washington_." Nicolay laughed sarcastically. Duncan wasn't sure at this point if Nicolay was continuing this conversation to escape or that he was just doing it because he wanted to screw with him, but Duncan didn't want this to go to waste. He turned his head to the other Total Drama contestants, none were saying a word, just looking nervous at what was Duncan was about to do.

He acted.

Duncan with all of his might shoved the Confederate soldier to the ground, making him fall on top of Nicolay and sprinted out the door. He made a sharp left behind a hallway, and was surprised to see no other gray guards at this point.

_Most must be all gone trying to find Noah and…__**Al.**_

"You heard something?"

Duncan froze.

A voice, just around the corner.

"Don't know, still getting used to this whole, what they said it was, _digital_ thing."

Duncan swung his head right and left, desperately trying to find something to hide in. He found one. A stray barrel leaning up against the wall. It seemed big enough to fit into…

…

"Nothin'." One of the guards shrugged. "Told ya."

"Well it ain't hurtin' to be to careful." Another said as he walked by a barrel. "I don't want Davis to yell at us cause we were to lazy to check to see if one of them escaped."

As both of the guards walked past the other corner, down the hall where the door was that held Duncan and the others, Duncan quickly climbed out of the barrel and sprinted the other way. He wasn't sure of what he wanted to do, but he knew he had to do it. Rushing through the hallway, Duncan looked to his left and saw an opening with some wooden stares which he dashed up. Once he was up them, he could see he was on the interior of the mess of the main deck, seeing some tables and chairs on it. He looked around, fearful that someone was there with him, but saw that there wasn't. But he needed a place where he could plan his next move…

"Uh…"

Duncan looked to his left and widened his eyes. Not a gray soldier, but another person that Duncan vaguely recognized as the person who took credit for capturing Cody and Heather a few hours ago. They stared at each other for a second, one long second.

Duncan with all of his might barreled and tackled the young man to the ground, covering his mouth so he wouldn't make any gasps. Darting his eyes upward he could see a small closet to the far end of the wall and quickly and hastily dragged the man into the closet. Shutting the door, and locking it from the inside. In complete darkness now, Duncan picked up the man by his collar and whispered.

"Who are you?"

"David Herold." He whispered back.

"Well Herold, I'm going to let you go, but if you scream I'm going to make the wedgie I gave Harold look like nothing from the one I'll give to you." He gritted his teeth.

"Fine, fine, I know you can kick my ass, just, eh, put me down." Duncan did just that. Leaving Herold leaning against the back wall. Despite him trying to look cool, and even with the darkness, Duncan could still sense the fear in his eyes.

"All right, where's the boss at, Davis or whatever."

"Up on the outter deck, there's a small set of stairs to a circular room. That's where he is." Herold said.

Duncan narrowed his eyes. "You bullshittin' me?"

"No, honest." Herold gulped a reply.

"Good, now, tell me exactly what you people are planning."

"Davis told all of us that we needed to find Lincoln, Noah and Alejandro before the Union came, and then we would have won the challenge set by the Programmers and Chris. I was only sent here to help get Heather and Cody because if they got to the top you guys would have won."

Duncan cocked his eyebrow, utterly confused at what he was saying. However his anger towards Alejandro made him drop the issue all together. "Fine, but, where is this place that we are in, this entire Island?"

"I don't know the technical stuff, but the programmers talked about this being some sort of _virtual reality_ thing." Herold said.

"Virtual reality…" Duncan repeated, blinking his eyes. "Wait, so when I was falling off the plane with Ezekiel, that wasn't real…"

"Whatever it is you're referring to yeah." Herold nodded. "None of this is, the island, this boat, this isn't real."

"And those blue lasers probably eliminate a person out of this, simulation or whatever the crap this is." Duncan said, mostly to himself.

"Yep, Chris says we couldn't use realistic muskets if this is, what you guys I guess would say, televised."

"Fine, makes sense." Duncan said. "Explains why I didn't need to take a piss in 3 hours since I got here."

Duncan frowned for a second. Now it was all making at least some semblance of sense to him, and for some reason, a feeling of reassurance swept over him as he realized that Gwen couldn't have lied to him. She probably entered the VR thing by other means. But…

What was Duncan going to do now?

"How am I supposed to win this thing then? Because I really don't want to climb that god damned mountain a second time…" He turned to Herold. "Any ideas?" He said threateningly. "You ain't holdin' out on me right?"

"No." Herold shook his head. "If you ain't wanting to climb the mountain again, Chris told the programmers put in another way for you guys to win. You have to shoot either one of the leaders."

"What?"

"Either Davis or Lincoln with one of our, what you say 'blue laser' guns, if you hit either of them, the other side wins and the simulation will stop for you guys." Herold explained.

"Good." Duncan sighed, finally seeing an endgame to this mess. "Where are the guns?"

"Behind you actually." Herold replied.

Duncan turned around and saw that Herold was indeed right, taking one of the musket looking guns behind him. He toyed with it in his hands, pointing it.

"Hey don't, point that thing at me!" Herold whispered harshly.

"Maybe I will." Duncan smirked. "You seemed to tell me everything I wanted, I don't really _need_ you anymore…"

"Wait, don't, I don't want to get into trouble with the Programmers, which I'm probably am going to if I get ejected out of this simulation!" Herold whispered frantically.

"Sorry dude, I really don't care." Duncan pointed the gun at him, finger on the trigger.

"Please don't, I beg ya!" Herold squatted on the floor now, cowering in fear. Duncan looked at him now, and saw him as quite pathetic, and not the laughable kind. The awkward kind.

"Jeez, I'm not going to kill you with this thing aren't I?"

No answer.

"Aren't I?"

"You think I know?" Herold stood up now. "I haven't the slightest chance as hell what will happen to me if it touches me. Could kill me, could not, but I ain't wanna take that chance."

Duncan stared at the weapon for a moment. Herold had to be wrong, he had to be. There was no way the gun would allow to Duncan to vaporize anyone for real… right? Right?

"The only thing I do know." Herold continued. "Is that it will only transport Davis to somewhere else with the programmers. But for the rest of us, the unimportant ones, they didn't say."

"Fine…" Duncan said, finally deciding what he was going to do. "I won't shoot you, but there's one more thing I need you to tell me."

"What?"

At this point, Duncan gave Herold a strong right hook to the jaw, causing him to stumble to the wall.

"If this is a simulation that I didn't hurt you, and I can't have you blowing my cover." Duncan said.

Now, the delinquent musket in hand, ran out the door.

* * *

Alejandro, quietly, pulled out a small wooden canoe that Noah found when he was making his base camp, carefully, carrying it to the small shroud of tree's on the beach far away enough from the boat and guards that they couldn't be seen.

The plan that Noah devised was quite simple really. Use the boat to swim around to the backside of the vessel, and use an axe that Noah found to break through, where it conveniently led to a room which Noah swore that he heard their competitors were in. They'd all climb into the boat and escape.

Noah was there when Alejandro got there, small axe in hand, and soon they were quickly on the ocean now.

"Don't let any water touch you." Noah whispered.

"Why?" Alejandro whispered back.

"Justin told me." Noah said flatly.

"Justin?" Alejandro racked his memory. "Oh, the model who didn't compete this season, he's here?"

"Apparently so." Noah said.

"I see." Alejandro replied.

After that silence overcame them as they both carefully maneuvered the canoe to be behind the huge vessel now. Alejandro, kneeling up now, carefully, yet forcefully hit the back of the boat. He did this, ripping the wood off until a small hole could be formed. He turned to Noah, "Climb through the hole and get them, I'll stay here to row each of them out to shore."

Noah nodded his head and climbed in there, and confirmed his knowledge. At the back of the boat there was a long room to keep prisoners. However something was… off…

All of the Total Drama contestants could be seen huddling to the door, some looked like there were struggling to pin someone down.

"Someone tie a shirt around his mouth!" Noah could hear Heather sharply whisper.

"You can use mine." Justin said, almost suspiciously quickly, immediately removing his green tee. It was answered by some swooning from Katie and Sadie. Noah started walking over to them.

"Cody, take your hands off his mouth so we can tie it."

"Hey you-Mmmbhfmm."

"Shut up."

"Well tie it already!"

"He's waving his head around it's hard."

"Jeez let me do it then."

"Fine, I don't see how you can be any better.

….

"See, I did it in two seconds." Heather sneered at Courtney. The C.I.T rolled her eyes in return, only for them to land on Noah, standing over them.

"I'm not going to ask." Noah deadpanned.

"Hey!" Justin said, standing up now. "How did you get here, Noah?"

"I remember distinctly asking the same question to you." Noah replied. "And to answer your question, I got here by boat."

"Boat?" Cody cocked his eyebrow. Noah simply jerked his thumb to the small hole that was left. "Canoe more specifically, but Alejandro's is going to row you all to shore one by one to get out of here."

"Alejandro." Justin repeated in disgust.

"Believe me, I'm just as thrilled, but he is helping."

"Alejandro's…back." Courtney said. "So he made it…"

"Yes, thank you for repeating what I just said." Noah replied. "But if we all want to say we 'made it' we should start getting you off this as soon as…" Noah looked around. "Where's Duncan?"

"Oh yeah…" Cody chuckled. "I kinda forget about that. He, uh, kinda escaped on his own."

Noah's eyes widened. "What?"

"When he opened the door," Gwen motioned to the guy tied up in the corner. "Duncan made a break for it."

Noah looked at Gwen for a moment, and a look of relief washed over him that she was safe. "Okay, so am I to believe that Duncan's off the ship?"

"I have no idea." Gwen answered. "He could very well be still on the ship hiding."

"Well wherever he is we can't help him now." Courtney scoffed. "He chose to be a complete idiot and run for it."

"Yep, I agree with that, he's an idiot." Justin added, again, suspiciously quick.

Noah gave Justin a disappointed look before saying. "Okay, I assume Duncan can get around on his own just fine then, so… we should start this then."

After that the plan Noah devised seemed to go off without a hitch. Ezekiel was the first to be sent to shore by Alejandro. Then Katie, Sadie, Heather, Courtney, John and Nicolay. It was a tedious process but it proved to be ultimately effective.

However as Noah went about his quiet plan, Duncan was partaking in his own.

And it was loud.

* * *

Duncan swung the door and barreled through the room until he was at the interior of the deck. A gray soldier saw him and shot his laser but Duncan dodged it and swung the butt of the gun to the guy's back, causing him to fall into the ocean below. Duncan ran towards the center of the deck, trying to figure out where that mini circular dome that Davis was at.

*Swish*

Duncan barely dodged a blue laser fired at him from another soldier. Duncan, tempted to fire the gun but didn't, remembering Herold and simply ran at the guy in a zig zag formation, pushing him into the water as well. Jumping away from another shot from yet another guard he did the same tactic until he once again was down in the water.

Duncan looked around to see if there were any left, but there weren't, and now he could see the mini white dome. Running up the steps for it, he broke through the wooden door and pointed it at the person sitting in a small chair, looking over monitors.

"I got you, Davis!" Duncan put pointed the gun to the back of his head. "There's nothing you can do now!"

The brown haired elder, simply, carefully turned his chair around to face Duncan, looking a bit surprised at how he was here.

"Yo- how did you?"

"Herold squealed on you." Duncan said behind gritted teeth. "All I have to do is zap you and this whole VR shit will be done and over with."

"Wait, wait." Davis held up his hands. "Let me just." He lowered his hands to a singular red button to the side of him. And blinked for a moment.

"I can't believe that worked." He repeated to himself.

"What?" Duncan said.

"If I press this red button to the side of me, I will leak some very important footage that Chris gave to me…" He smiled. "Concerning the events on London-"

"Oh I am way past that by now." Duncan aimed at the guy's torso. "I'm done with Gwen and Noah giving me shit, you can show everyone here, I don't give a damn."

"What?" Davis repeated, almost speechless. "But- Chris told me that… you wouldn't dare do this! What about this, er, Gambit, your involved with Noah that he told me about."

"Sorry." Duncan seemed to chuckle. "I don't care about that little shit, or whatever the hell the leverage he has on me, and I never did."

"Wha-what about this Gwen I've heard of! She does! You would do her a great disservice by going against her wishes." Davis rambled on, trying to find something, anything to stop this.

"Gwen…" Duncan faltered for a moment. His grip tightened on his musket. "I like Gwen, always have. But I'm not going to do whatever she says just because she's 'sad' about it. In a way I'll be helping her in the long run, if you expose this then Noah has no more leverage on her. And then maybe." He faltered, face genuine. "Maybe then we can work it out." His face changed again. "But that can't be until that little shit is off her back."

"Courtney! Yes, Courtney! Chris told me that she'll most likely arrange your elimination!"

"Never cared about the money either." Duncan smirked.

"A-a-a…"

"Yeah, stutter all you want try to buy time, because anything you say isn't going to change my mind." A great wind seem to sweep through Duncan now, as if a heavy load was being lifted from his back. "Trust me, after today, Noah is the farthest thing from my mind right now." His mind turned to Alejandro. "I can care less about Noah actually, it's funny, because earlier today I hated that guys guts. I mean yeah, he's still a two timing shit, but I got bigger priorities to deal with." His thoughts turned to Alejandro and Jose, getting off Scott free leaving Duncan to rot.

"Is that a webcam?" Duncan got distracted, seeing a small device on the table. Davis nodded his head.

"That's for me to talk to the prisoners showing my face. They call it video calls I hear. Incredible interesting." Davis too seemed to get distracted.

"Can I use it?"

"What!?"

"Do you want to get shot yet?"

"No, but-."

"Good, so help me get this thing turned on."

* * *

"I got Nicolay on the beach." Alejandro called through the small hole.

"Good." Noah nodded. "That means we only have about 4 more to go and me an-

"This thing on?"

The monitor up top suddenly blinked to life again, revealing Duncan holding his blue musket to Davis's back.

"Duncan?" Gwen questioned, looking up at the thing.

"What does he want?" Courtney asked.

Noah's eyes widened however, as he had a sneaking feeling that something bad was going to happen in regards to him very soon. The Duncan from the T.V seemed to glance at everyone in the room, even Alejandro, who heard this and climbed up on the ship to find out what the delay was.

"Hoped more people were here so I can say this, but whatever, they'll hear through the grapevine."

"What is he doing?" Courtney asked.

"I don't know." Alejandro answered.

Gwen and Noah tightened their fists as they watched.

"Look," Duncan's face grew dead serious. "Before I say anything, let me say that I admit that what I did, I shouldn't have done. At least I should have did something before I did it. However the other person involved care WAY to freaking much about it, so much so that it was driving me crazy." He looked at Gwen as he said this. "I also could care less what happens to me if I reveal this."

"So here it goes…"

Noah's eyes widened now, realizing what was about to happen, and time it seemed for him went in slow motion as Duncan said what he was about to say.

"When I was brought back in London, by Chris, _**I kissed Gwen**_."

Silence, perpetual stillness filled the room at this point. Alejandro's eyes widened at this development, more intrigued than anything else, and looked to the 4, who all were looking apprehensive at what Duncan was saying.

"I did it in the confessional. After I did it though _**Noah**_ walked in on us. I didn't care though, I didn't care if he was going to tell anyone, but Gwen did, so I respected her wishes. But Noah also wanted Alejandro gone so bad, so he strikes a bargain with us. **If I didn't help him try to eliminate Alejandro, he would reveal to the world about the kiss. **Yeah, so after that it was basically Noah and Gwen fucking around and giving orders to me, because Gwen wanted to protect her precious secret and Noah wanted to get rid of Alejandro. That's actually how Sierra got eliminated from the game, and Owen, by finding out through a call with Harold and Trent, voted himself off because he thought he would blow the cover for us. So yeah, just to recap **I kissed Gwen. And Noah blackmailed us.** And Courtney-

Her face looked up towards the screen on Duncan's face.

"Whatever you threaten me about, however you try to manipulate my elimination after this, which I know you'll try to do, go for it. Hell, if everyone votes for me after this challenge I'll be happy."

Alejandro looked towards Courtney's face, where a single tear could be seen from her eye.

"So yeah, also when I shoot this guy the challenge will be over and we'll all wake up so, bye!"

The shot was fired.

The video call stopped.

And a quiet rumbling sound could be heard around them.

"**YOU!"** Courtney roared, pointing at Gwen. "**YOU BOYFRIEND STEALER, YOU CHEATER, YOU-YOU-YOU!"**

Alejandro quickly restrained Courtney, holding her as he flailed her arms about. "**I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDSISH! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I ****HATE YOU!" **

Courtney continued to flail about trying to hit Gwen, yelling, screaming, cursing, trying to do everything to punch Gwen. To **Hurt** Gwen as much as she had been hurt. She wanted Gwen to feel all the betrayal she was feeling, the pain she was feeling, the hurt that she was feeling.

Yet despite all of the loud sounds of Courtney's rage, it seemed silent. Gwen just stood there, taking everything Courtney was yelling to her, and with every insult it was like a bullet pierced through her chest. Everything she had done wrong, everything she felt, all the guilt that Gwen bottled inside was on the outside now, and it was _real._

"Gwen…Noah…" Cody repeated, turning his head towards her. "How…could…you…do this?"

Noah simply looked at Cody for a moment, and closed his eyes. He remembered the night of the day he first implemented the gambit, the day where he and Cody were in the hallway talking, conversing. He remembered how Cody told him about his problems with Courtney, about how he oh so much wanted to finally get Gwen. And Noah said nothing.

Noah opened his eyes and looked towards Alejandro. And Alejandro looked to him. And Alejandro smirked, and that smirk said it all. Whatever leverage Noah had now dissipated, and in the wreckage of the Gambit that he had once had, Alejandro with just one push finish Noah. Hell, Alejandro didn't even have to do anything. The information out itself spelled Noah's own demise.

And soon now, as Courtney kept screaming with Alejandro keeping her back so she wouldn't outright injure Gwen, a grand white light flashed through over the land, with that one smirk still being prevalent in Noah's mind after the simulation ended.

Noah's Gambit was destroyed.

* * *

**AUTHORS NOTES: Well, yeah. Noah's Gambit is out. Naturally, this is a BIG CHANGE to the story dynamic and is the end to the Act 1 of this story. Everything after this point will be really really new and the as a whole character interactions will change as well. Everything beyond this point will change. However, before I can get Act 2 up and rearing to go, there will be two chapters of what I say will be the 'interlude' act, but then after that it will really hit the fan. Because really, next chapter I am going to introduce ANOTHER plot point which I'm super excited about introducing and something that I think will really change the story's direction. Don't worry, there's still going to be Gwoah. But yeah, with this out of the way, like Duncan I'm happy. Now I don't have to keep beating around the bush and setting stuff up, because now the set up act is over and now we can really get into stuff. **

**And yes, Duncan and Alejandro will be explored in the future, as I realize we delved into it through Duncan's perspective but not through Alejandro's perspective. Because, we still don't know why Alejandro dosen't recognize or said anything to Duncan about this now do we?**

**And now Duncan has gone rouge from the group? I wonder what developments will stem from that. **

**Also I'm debating weather or not to get rid of either Duncan or Zeke for the character filter to make room for Alejandro, but I'm leaning towards Ezekiel. As much as I love him, Alejandro's going to get really important in the next half of the story, and while Zeke is also important, I think it's a good thing to rotate some of the characters in the filter just so more people who like certain characters get awareness to the story.**

**There's also one thing I want to point out in this story that I want to make clear: Usually, in this type of scenarios with TDWT Redux, I feel that when/if the Gwuncan thing is revealed, they always kinda do the same thing with Cody. What I want to make perfectly clear is that Cody, while important, isn't going to dominate this story. Heck, he's no where as important as Noah, Gwen, Duncan or Alejandro are in the grand scheme of things. So yeah, what I really want to do is try to do something a lot different with Cody at this point, because I feel like him being all mopey and dopey has turned into some kind of cliche. **

**But other than that, yeah, shit just got real here. But trust me, if you thought this was big, just wait until you've seen the next catalyst I have in store for the second act ;)**

**Endnotes:**

**[1]- Heather being a bit cheery here with Duncan has a purpose, despite not being followed up on in this chapter. It'll be explained in due time. **

**-ewisko**


	15. Eliminations and Ciphers

**A/N: New overdue chapter! Yay! Not so sure how I feel about this one but hopefully it turns out great. Obviously though you guys will have figure that out for yourselves.**

**Alright, onto the chapter!**

* * *

The white light blinded them, they all were. As if they were staring directly into a bright white sun. And they tried to close their eyes but they couldn't, and were forced to stare at the enveloping light around them, blinding them. Some surely thought that this damage would be permanent, how could it not have? Yet, as soon as it came, it stopped, and a huge black void entered into where the bright light went away. Cody panicked, and accidentally bumped into Heather, who for once didn't yell, yet clinged onto Cody as tightly as she could.

There was complete and total silence.

They all were around each other now, save for Nicolay and John, because even though the TD contestants didn't know at the time, they were gone, transported to someplace else.

And then.

**Click.**

"Test #542 complete." A voice, this one human, sounded over the mysterious void. It wasn't a loud booming voice, it almost sounded, nerdy, in quality.

"Preparing to bring subjects out of testing zone."

**Click. **

* * *

Typing on a keyboard could be heard, and very quickly at that. Although not frantic, it was as if the person handling the machine knew 15 steps ahead what they were going to do, continuing making each step in their head. She knew that if she did not enter the values correctly, even if she got one number or variable wrong, everyone in the simulation might not come back.

But that wouldn't happen. She was never wrong. And she knew that. So what didn't matter if she lied that she already had the program done automatically? She could just say she was running the program automatically and she'd still be running it manually and they'll never know.

With one final stroke of the enter key in place, the eight pods aligned on the floor horizontally opened their hatches, slowly.

The first to emerge their head out of it was Gwen, breathing heavily and looking around, she locked her eyes on her, sitting at the computer, and she looked back.

"Who are you?" Gwen asked.

"Scarlett." The person behind the desk replied, adjusting her glasses as she made more keystrokes on the computer, not even looking up at the person who addressed her.

Planning always planning she was.

Until the moment to strike.

* * *

All of the Total Drama contestants were awake now, and for the first 5 minutes of their awaking, were mostly all clamoring the new face, Scarlett, for answers regarding their present position. Scarlett merely told them that all would be explained when Chris would come.

However Scarlett upheld her word as Chris strolled in the door, grinning like a mad man.

"I trust you all enjoyed your little trip." He flashed his whitened teeth.

"Yeah, we loved it Chris!" Cody sarcastic laughed, a bit too uncomfortable loud. Chris gave Cody a weird look, as most of the rest of the contestants.

"I was suspecting a sarcastic comeback, but, really, that was a lame one." Chris chuckled under his breath. "Guess you're still pissed about what happened with Duncan and the gang."

"What?" Heather cocked her eyebrow.

"Oh, did you not hear it? Duncan told everyone." He turned to Courtney. "And I'm surprised you weren't screaming about it now, you're taking this surprisingly well."

Courtney simply turned away from Chris, sniffing. Alejandro, carefully, put his hand on her shoulder, trying to console her.

_Yes, with this new development I will win over with no problems. _

Alejandro thought to himself.

"I don't mind telling it again." Duncan said, flashing Noah a smug look, as if he won something. "I kissed Gwen."

Most of the contestants looked at him, not really caring.

"Uh, did you hear what I just said?"

"Yeah." Heather replied. "Do you want us to give you a trophy for that or what?"

"Okay, okay, fine, here's something that'll really throw you guys." Duncan started. "I kissed when I was with Courtney."

Again, nothing.

"Aw come on!" Duncan said, holding his arms up. "Those other guys reacted to it a lot!"

"To be honest I kinda suspected you and Goth girl were a thing." Heather said, absentmindedly looking at her nails.

"Really?" Duncan seemed a little disappointed at that. He suspected at least some emotional response from Heather. "Ezekiel?" He turned to the prairie boy.

"Sorry Doo'ncan, Izzy already too'ld me aboo't it, eh." Ezekiel replied. "Back in Ireland."

"Oh." Duncan face fell flat. "And Justin, Katie and Sadie already know…"

"Yep." The trio replied in unison.

"Wow… a, okay…"

**Confessional Cam**

***New Confessional Cam. It's a bathroom like the normal one but is much larger. Walls are white, and in the corner the camera can even pick up a small bathtub in the corner, and a medicine cabinet on the wall***

**Duncan: To be honest I thought they'd care a little more. I mean, I certainly don't give a crap about what happened, and I don't want to pull a total Gwen and act like what I did was such a great big deal, but I would at least have thought that it'd get some reaction *Sighs* Whatever…**

**Chris: Are you kidding me!? I mean, the footage we got Courtney freaking out was great and all, but I thought we would have gotten more! We hyped the crap out of this for the past 4 episodes and when the big reveal happens I get nothing!?**

**Heather: *Is seen filling her nails* Yeah I didn't really care, AT FIRST, until Alejandro mentioned the Noah thing…**

**End Confessional**

"I believe, Duncan, you're neglecting the issue regarding this so called 'Gambit'?" Alejandro said aloud, still hand on Courtney's shoulder.

"Oh yeah." Duncan snapped his fingers. "That thing, aw man, really don't want to talk about that again, cause it's kinda long winded and complicated."

"Well you've been boring us with your crap so far why not go all the way with it?" Cody rolled his eyes. Duncan and Chris gave Cody a look of brief confusion.

"Uh, Cody? If you're trying to copy Noah, please don't, you're obviously not good at playing the dead pan snark like he is. Plus it's killing the mood." Chris said.

Cody rolled his eyes again, almost as if he wanted the whole world to know he was unhappy. "Whatever, can I just wait outside then?"

"Don't you want to know how you got here?"

"Not particularly, no I do not." Cody deadpanned.

Chris frowned but complied. "Fine, there's a bench just outside this room if you want to wait out there, but you better not complain to me that you don't know what's going on around here 'kay?"

Cody shrugged and nodded his head and sulked out the door, closing it on his way out.

"Jeez," Chris started. "Wonder got into him?"

"You can't be that dense." Heather rolled her eyes. "It's pretty obvious why he's upset."

"Whatever," Chris dismissed. "This isn't Cody's show, it's mine, so if he wants to be an upset baby all day than let him. Now, going back on track here, _Noah's Gambit,_ something that Alejandro touched on earlier, was an agreement that he made with Gwen and Duncan after he saw them kissing after the London challenge. The terms were that he wouldn't spill the beans if they aided him in trying to get rid of Alejandro. And along the way they also screwed Sierra over!" Chris announced gleefully.

Heather, who at this point was the only person in the room who didn't hear about the Gambit til now, jumped up. "What!?" She pointed to Noah. "That little twerp made an alliance and I had no idea about it!?"

"Seems like to me Miss Queen Bee has gotten a little stale with the alliance business." Noah smirked.

"Nerd!" Heather yelled back.

"Finally, some reaction towards it." Duncan rolled his eyes, indicating Heather.

"Shut it!" Courtney growled from the corner. Duncan turned to the C.I.T and was prepared to offer a witty comeback until he saw Alejandro standing right next to her, hand on her shoulder, looking as smug as ever.

Duncan simply narrowed his eyes and rolled them, turning away, still holding burning emotions for the Latino.

Silence hung in the air for a few moments, a stale and barren silence. Most people in the room who were competitors in the game were already trying to plot each other's demise as this development was out in the open. Meticulously, how to properly ensure each other should take the dreaded drop of shame, eyes glancing in all directions.

"Chris." Scarlett suddenly spoke up in a dead panned tone, still not looking up from her computer. "Should I tell them where they are now and how the challenge worked now?"

"Oh, uh, yeah Scarlett, proceed." Chris coughed.

"Good." Scarlett finally closed the laptop and stood up, walking to the center of the room. "You are all aware I'm sure that what you just experienced was not real, but a computer simulation used by these pods you just woke up in."

Almost all murmured in agreement, sans Ezekiel who just looked confused.

"Well, you were all in a hyper technical reality simulation that I co-invented during my internshipalong with 2 other interns at _Reali-Tech_, which apparently has just signed a deal to partner up with the network that broadcasts your show."

"Reali-Tech?" Ezekiel mumbled.

"I'm aware that it is a generic name, but the author of this story was far too lazy to think of any other names." Scarlett adjusted her glasses.

"So, we essentially in some sort of virtual reality." Alejandro clarified.

"Correct." Scarlett nodded. "In this case we transported you to a virtual battlefield esque Island where we were going to test the functionality of our historical programs, essentially all those soldiers that you all were running from and then captured by. I'm sure you all realize that these were from the Civil War era?"

"We had a feeling." Gwen shrugged. "But I guess no one said anything because we were all worried about eventually getting out of here."

"Yes, these Civil War era figures were meticulously coded using every resource we could find about each person's existence in the past, and we tried to make each one match their real world personality. They will never be exact models, but they are the closest that one can ever come up with."

"That Lincoln model was spot on." Noah said. "He was the one I talked to back at the cave, right?"

"Correct." Scarlett clarified.

***BANG***

"What was that!?" Chris jumped up, into Chef's arms in a Scooby Doo esq way.

Scarlett seemed to roll her eyes, and mutter and indistinguishable swear under her breath. "Just my… co-intern… _Max."_

"Sidekick!" A whiny voice sounded through the door. "Why did you give me mayo on this sandwich!?"

"I don't know Max, maybe because you explicitly told me to put mayonnaise on your BLT?" It was at this point that Scarlett reached towards her desk and started to crunch a stress puddy thing on her desk.

"Mayonnaise is the least _evil_ out of all the condiments, why would I ask for that!"

It was at this time that a rather short purple haired teen waltzed into the room, as if he owed the place. His eyes glanced to the TD contestants in the room, and sneered. "Who are these people?"

"Didn't _Shawn _tell you?" Scarlett asked.

"That imbecile? He's too preoccupied with his fairly tale zombie stories than to inform me of anything." Max grumbled. "Actually, creating a zombie apocalypse is a great evil plan, I have to take that one down." Max quickly wrote it down on the notepad he was holding before he put it back again. "Now, about my lunch…"

"I'll get it to you after I finish up with these guys Max." Scarlett rolled her eyes.

"Fine." Max nodded. "But be quick about it! One can't be evil on an empty stomach sidekick." And with that, the purple haired teen went on his way back out the door. Everyone in the room blinked for a moment, a bit confused at what just happened.

"So… do you work for him or something?" Cody broke the silence, walking back in the room.

"By technicality I do." Scarlett sighed. "Just because he started the internship a year ahead of me he's my superior. Even if he's an idiot."

"Surprised he hasn't has his ass kicked yet…" Duncan muttered.

"Well, if an accident were to happen of that nature, I wouldn't be opposed." Scarlett gave an indiscriminate nod to Duncan.

"Excuse me, but can somebody tell us which country we're in?" Heather asked, looking a tad bit agitated.

"America, specifically Princeton New Jersey**." **Chris stated. "Reali-Tech just built up a new building here to expand their company, which is what we're in now."

"Wait, wait, so what happens now though." Alejandro interrupted. "Concerning the challenge, who… or what team…won?"

"The teams couldn't still be now," Courtney started, gaining a little bit of her composure back. "That had to be the first merge challenge."

"Yuperroni." Chris nodded his head. "As of that challenge, they're no more teams, so yeah, that's a thing."

"What about the challenge?" Noah spoke up. "How could you find a clear winner?"

"Simple." Chris smirked. "It was either get to the top of the mountain or _vaporize_ Davis or Lincoln, so due to Duncan getting rid of Davis, he wins immunity, as well as the ability to give immunity to someone and take that one person to first class ."

"Awesome." Duncan smirked at Courtney, who still looked fuming mad. "I choose Gwen."

"What?" Gwen looked a bit confused.

"He can't choose her!" Courtney cried.

"And why can't he?" Chris said drolly. "Duncan can pick anyone he wants, heck he could have picked you if he wanted too."

"Bu-Bu-Bu-

"Save it toots." Chris held up his hands. "No buts. Duncan and Gwen are off limits for votes, however-"He quirked his eyes towards Noah. "You can still vote for anyone else…"

Courtney's eyes immediately jerked towards Noah, not with total vindictiveness, but with confusion, however anger was still present. Noah merely shrugged his shoulders, trying to maintain his aloof persona as possible.

"Yeah, I'm sure Noah dosen't care." Cody laughed again, cynicism still full in his voice. His eyes looked upon both Noah and Courtney, and then the three teens were in a three way stare down, all contemplating their next moves. Noah didn't look it, but he was on edge about Cody's seemingly new personality after the fallout a few minutes prior.

"Either way," Chris smirk grew. "One will be eliminated at 8:00 tonight."

"Yes, so you all are free to roam around the town until the elimination ceremony, where you will all meet back in this room at 8." Scarlett interrupted. "Meals will be provided by the company at 7, in the cafeteria, but other than that your free to roam around."

"Yeah…" Chris eyed Scarlett. "Explaining that was… my job."

"And my job is to get the final bugs out of this program by tonight." Scarlett replied. "And you were taking to slow." She finished matter o' factly.

"Fine…" Chris smile drooped. "Whatever, so yeah, just dick around Princeton or the company grounds until elimination time So you got about 5 hours, and for people who are mathematically challenged it's three right now."

"Gee, thanks for telling us that." Cody rolled his eyes. Chris looked at Cody again but shrugged.

"Whatever floats your boat New-Noah."

"New...Noah?" Alejandro cocked his eyebrow.

"Well we got a new Heather so I thought it'd be appropriate for us to have a new Noah, since Cody seems ever so hell bent on copying him." Chris chuckled. "Besides, old Noah's probably thinking so much about how to save his ass from Courtney and co. to make his usual dead panned snarks, right Noah?"

Noah was busy frowning and pursing his lips hard, almost as if he was in deepest thought. And it took a few moments for him to realize that most of the eyes in the room were on him. He blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"Exactly." Chris smirked.

"Whatever, can we just go now." Cody said, now more noticeable impatient than dead panned.

"I agree." Scarlett added. "I have to get back work."

"Sure, sure, go I guess." Chris shooed the contestants away with his hand.

The contestants turned to each other and shrugged, then proceeding to file out of the door, only Cody seemed to dash out, quick to find the way away from everyone.

* * *

After the dismissal of all of the contestants, Alejandro made it paramount to stick around with Courtney. With this new development, he was fully confident that one day consoling her would be more than enough for her to be permanently wrapped around Alejandro's thumb for the duration of the competition.

Alejandro yawned and shook his head, standing in front of the women's restroom of Reali-Tech, impatience stemming to his mind. He had no idea why girls had to take so long to the bathroom. Perhaps Courtney was crying in there however, her anger finally dissipating into sadness. That would speed up the process...

"Alejandro."

Alejandro turned his head to the side in the direction of the voice, and cocked his eyebrow, a bit intrigued that it was Duncan, standing point blank in front of him. Alejandro smirked inwardly to himself and said. "Hello Duncan, I trust you had a good trip when we were all under."

"Cut the crap." Duncan replied, somewhat forcefully in fact. "I remember."

"Remember?" Alejandro pursed his lips. "I know, you have seen my pasts exploits when you were on the run from Chris, but due to your recent track record, your the least person I would suspect in trying to reveal my true intentions, or even to care about them for that matter."

"Not that." Duncan's scowl deepened. "I can care less what you do on this show."

"Oh." Alejandro was confused at what Duncan was indicating. "So... What's your problem?"

"Mexico City, Jose, Dan... The trial." Duncan said, slowly, meticulously.

Alejandro's eyes widened for a second, his lips mouthing 'the trial'. Immediately all those memories he so long tried to repress resurfaced. He looked at Duncan.

"Damn it, you, you remember? Now of all times?" He cursed indiscriminately in Spanish and turned his head. "I thought after the first episode you didn't put two and two together..."

"Yeah well I did, back in the simulator when whatever dream you had was being broadcasted."

"What!" Alejandro harshly whispered, grabbing Duncan by the arm. "My dream!"

"Yeah, that's the one, now get hell off of me." Duncan jerked his arm away from Alejandro's grasp. "I didn't see it, Chris told me, told everyone how you screwed my life."

"Damn him." Alejandro looked away, eyes closed. "Damn Chris..."

"So wait, you lied about this for the whole time, why?" Duncan stated, dead serious.

"Why reveal or say something which is would damage my reputation, of course I would address it and do damage control if you remembered and told them back in Egypt, but by complete chance you didn't make the connection. And by that time you quit the competition."

"So it's my fault you looked so different after all these years." Duncan scowled. "Asshole."

"Duncan." Alejandro started in a low tone.

"You in that cell whined and preached about this was somehow good for you, how you were so happy that you were gone from your brother that you didn't even care what happened to me." Duncan spoke blankly. "And then I see your rich parents bribe that fatass judge to bail you out!"

"Duncan-"

"Shut up." Duncan interrupted, taking another step towards Alejandro. "I'm not going to let you walk away again with this, I'm going to vote with Noah and Gwen for you and I'll convince Ezekiel to vote you out too."

Alejandro's eyes seemed to twitch for a moment and sighed, closing them. "Duncan, why did you tell me about this?"

Duncan's eyes widened a little. "What?"

"Your ultimate vice, even with a legitimate reason for hating me you still show it so prominently." Alejandro shook his head.

"What?" Duncan asked again, his face a look of confusion.

"This... anger your experiencing towards me at the moment, it made you have a great error on your part." Alejandro explained. "I originally was going to sway Courtney in aiding me to oust Noah, but due to you revealing at this moment that you aren't going to do like you said you were back in the VR machine and abandon all notions of playing this game seriously, I'm going to go through with what most likely Courtney wants and vote you off." Alejandro continued. "And I'm sure it wouldn't be that difficult to sway Cody into getting rid of you."

"Your math's wrong." Duncan grunted. "We still have Ezekiel."

"I distinctly remember you stating previous that you hadn't conferred with him about this matter yet." Alejandro replied.

"There's Heather." Duncan said slowly, trying to change the subject.

"And I concede that that will be a problem, if you join forces with her." Alejandro said. "Which is why I'm going to make it certain that Heather or Ezekiel does not vote with you."

"Is that a threat?!" Duncan yelled out, his cool anger now exploding into a great fire, picking up Alejandro by the collar, hoisting him to the wall.

"Duncan?"

The girl's bathroom door was open, and here standing on the doorway was Courtney, staring at the both of them. She mouthed the name again as he glanced towards Alejandro, who by her fragile emotional state looked like a poor defenseless animal being picked up by a senseless brute.

And Alejandro knew this.

He smirked towards the green haired delinquent, "Come now Duncan, please put me down, let's not act like animals."

Duncan frowned back at him, and raised his fist, about to punch the Latino that he had just learned was an intricate part of the reason that Duncan's life had so much strife. But his left eye turned to Courtney, standing there, her face showing a mix of emotions, anger, confusion, hurt, and betrayal. And it was the first time in a long while where Duncan felt any feelings towards Courtney. They were far from romantic, but he no longer felt numb about her, that she was something that he should have never touched on those fateful days on the Wawwanakwa isle.

He stared back at Alejandro for a moment, and then dropped him, afraid of the emotions that were coming to surface that he did not understand.

"Fuck off."

And then Duncan walked off coolly away, off to find Noah and Gwen, leaving Alejandro to manipulate Courtney alone.

Xxx

Ezekiel yawned as he walked through the halls of the Reali-Tech complex. Ever since Chris released him and his fellow competitors from the VR tubes, Ezekiel didn't really know what to do at the moment. He tried to strategize a little while ago, or at least to attempt to do so rather, but just thinking about the new love triangle that was out of the open made him feel really uncomfortable.

And since that everyone in the competition as of now were more or less strategizing about it, Ezekiel didn't really want to hang around any of them, including Duncan.

Sighing, Ezekiel made a left around the corner and looked upward seeing a door to the exit. Taking it, he closed the door to find himself outside at the front of the building, where in a small patch of grass a few of the interns working were hanging out. One of them Ezekiel recognized was Max, the small purple haired guy who was Scarlett's boss.

"When will she be ready?" Max muttered impatiently. "I'm getting hungry."

"Give your head a shake dude, she's probably still working on that VR thing." A male teen, wearing a similar toque that Ezekiel was, remarked, as he was reading a book.

"Yeah, _Lightning_ saw that Scarlett was busy on that computer of hers the whole night." A muscular looking African Canadian teen replied, sitting on the ground, clutching a football. "Sucked too, couldn't even stream the game because she was using it."

"Oh yeah, I forgot you're sharing a room with her." Max replied.

"Yep, but Lightning's requested to change it, all she does is hog the computer all day." Lightning grumbled.

"Don't count yourself lucky." Max rolled his eyes. "All _Shawn _does in our room is do his training for zombies. So un-evil!"

"You'll come crying to me when the apocalypse comes." Shawn muttered, not turning his eyes from his book, which was, of course, concerning zombies. "Besides-

Shawn stopped for a moment and picked up his head, and saw that Ezekiel was looking at them, almost staring. Max and Lightning also picked up their heads and stared, in neutral expression. Ezekiel realized this and coughed awkwardly, waving his hand.

"Ooom, can I join yoo'?"

"That depends, are you EVIL enough?" Max asked.

"I don't think he's a zombie, so he probably isn't evil." Shawn replied. "So yeah, have a seat man." Ezekiel felt well having been called 'man' and nodded as he sat down with the group.

"Oh, so you're part of the group that just got out of Scarlett's machine or whatever." Lightning snapped his fingers.

"Yup." Ezekiel nodded his head. "Just aboo't 5 minutes ago actually."

"Awesome, I'm Shawn by the way." Shawn extended his hand for Zeke to shake, which he accepted. "And the other two are Lightning and Max, we work with Scarlett."

"You mean you two work with Scarlett." Max clarified. "She works under me."

"Nah, I just let that egghead do everything, not like she lets me do anything. But that lets Sha-Lightning practice football more." He twirled the football in his hand, smirking, turning to Ezekiel. "Speaking of which little man, how's bout' a little two on two with Sha-Lightning."

"Pass." Shawn muttered.

"I agree." Max folded his arms.

"What." Lightning mocked. "Afraid your itty witty bones would get broken?"

"Hey my bones are so full of EVIL that they can never be broken!" Max declared.

"Well I ain't gonna test that out, Lighting dosen't wanna have to pay for your medical bills." Lightning replied. "But, if eggheads done does that mean she's done working?" He asked, turning to Ezekiel.

"No, I doon't think soo'." Ezekiel replied, shaking his head. "She told us and Chris that she has to work more, eh."

"Working when she should be making MY SANDWICH." Max grumbled.

"You know you could just make it yourself." Shawn stated.

"And subject these evil hands with plastic cutlery for the condiments?" Max asked. "Never!"

"Well Sha-Lighting's, getting hungry with all this sandwich talk." Lightning said, jumping to his feet. "Gonna swing over to a sandwich shop and get some."

"I'll go too." Shawn hopped to his feet. "Not like Scarlett will be needing us for anything." He glanced to Ezekiel. "You two wanna come?"

"Sure." Ezekiel smiled.

"Fine." Max grumbled, as he started walking with them. "Sidekick took too long anyway…"

* * *

Noah tried to find a room in the building where he and Gwen could talk quietly, but most important privately, about what to do next in this stage of the game, especially with this new information revealed. While they couldn't find one that wasn't already occupied due to meetings or other business related matters they managed to convince Scarlett to use the room that they woke up in, and the one she was working in, by putting headphones on and listening to music.

As Scarlett put the headphones in before warning Noah and Gwen to not snoop around the room and look at what she was doing, the meeting officially started.

"Things are looking bad." Noah said first, which he immediately regret doing. Of course it was bad, Gwen knew that, so what was the point in saying it again?

"Yeah." Gwen nodded her head. "You're going to get voted out unless we do something."

"Correct." Noah nodded. "And after I go, unless you win the next immunity challenge, you'll go to. Courtney, Duncan and Alejandro are voting for myself, and because you and I are voting for Alejandro, that leaves us obviously outnumbered."

"That means we either need Ezekiel, Heather or Cody to vote with us to have a tie-breaker, and at least one more to get rid of Alejandro." Gwen finished.

"Precisely." Noah answered. "Although I doubt Cody would vote with us, even if you tried to persuade him."

"Me… persuade?"

"Well it's obvious that he wouldn't listen to me, and he still holds strong feelings for you to be that upset over what happened, you trying to convince him would be our best bet for success, although with his new attitude." Noah shook his head. "I doubt it would turn the tide."

"You don't think he might vote for you, right?" Gwen asked.

"To be honest, it's an idea that I've been mulling over." Noah sighed. "But I don't know that for sure yet."

"He probably would." Gwen replied. "I can feel it."

"You're probably right." Noah closed his eyes. "We can't rely on Cody to be the tiebreaker, so then that leaves us with Heather and Ezekiel."

"Heather hates me, but she does hate Alejandro a bit more this season." Gwen pointed out.

"Exactly." Noah opened his eyes. "Heather's also not stupid. She knows if she votes me out than that would give Alejandro a numbers advantage that she can't afford. And once you and Duncan are inevitable out of the picture, he'll set his sights on her."

"Right." Gwen nodded her head, a little hope springing back into her system. "And that leaves Ezekiel…"

"Ezekiel." Noah frowned. "He's a wild card. He seems easy to manipulate to me, and he's been spending a lot of time with Duncan over the challenge so he might be swayed to their side."

"So Cody is a probably for Alejandro, Ezekiel's the wild card, and Heather's probably for us?" Gwen clarified.

"Most likely." Noah sighed. "It's a longshot though, unless something unexpected happens in the next few minutes-"

The door to the room suddenly opened, with the hinge squeaking a tad. The noise was a bit loud that even Scarlett turned from her computer, but then turned back when she just saw that someone had entered the room again.

"Duncan?" Gwen said, looking at him.

"We have to talk." Duncan said, glancing around the room, eyes laying on Noah and Scarlett for only a few seconds.

"Then… talk." Noah deadpanned.

"I just wanted to say that I'm voting for Alejandro with you guys." Duncan looked to the ground. Both Noah's and Gwen's eyes widened.

"Well… that's pleasing to hear."

"Save it." Duncan growled. "The only reason I'm doing this because I hate Al more than you right now."

"The trial." Gwen mouthed. "From the VR room?"

"Yeah." Duncan nodded. "I'm not going to let that bastard get away scot free."

"Things are looking up." Noah smirked. "Alejandro screwing you over may as well be the greatest thing that ever happened in terms of the competition."

"Save it!" Duncan yelled a short burst scream. He grew quieter. "Because after he's gone I'm coming for you."

"I'm terrified." Noah chuckled. And then Noah grew quiet for a moment. "I know you outright hate me right now, but I do thank you for finally siding with us, truly, on this."

"Yeah." Duncan huffed. "Whatever, though I hope you do know I still wish you didn't screw with my relationship with her." Duncan indicated Gwen.

"Dully noted, and I hope you know that I can care less of a shit about your love life." Noah smirked. Duncan seemed to almost smile for a moment at that, a mutual understanding forming between the two teens.

"Fine, so, what should we do now?"

"Find either Heather or Ezekiel or Cody, although Heather or Ezekiel are the two we should give priority towards." Noah answered. "And convince them to vote with us."

"Cool." Duncan nodded. "Zeke shouldn't be so hard to convince, I'll try to find him."

"Good, so Gwen and I will try to get to Heather." Noah looked to Gwen, who nodded in agreement. And as the three of them agreed on what to do, it was at this moment, where Noah truly felt the gravity of the situation.

They had a good chance of eliminating Alejandro.

And at that moment, none of them realized that Scarlett raced out of the room.

* * *

"Man that was a _damn fine_ sandwich!" Lightning patted his stomach triumphantly as the group were walking back towards reality tech.

"You said it," Shawn smiled, carrying a small bag with the leftover contents. Lightning noticed this.

"So… you gonna share?"

"Sorry, no can do." Shawn held up his free hand. "Can't waste food in a zombie apocalypse, and this sandwich may just be the boost of energy I need if I'm in a jam with them."

"_Ugh, Zombies…" _Max huffed. "Stupid."

Shawn seemed to ignore that comment and turned to Ezekiel. "How was yours?"

"Great!" Ezekiel smiled, who was carrying his own doggiebag. "It was really gooo'd, I never had a sandwich like that befur, I mean, it was so big."

"That's what Hoagie Haven is known for, extremely large sandwiches." Shawn chuckled. They walked like this for another brief moment until they arrived at the grounds of the facility once again. However once he got there, Shawn narrowed his eyes and held up his hand, making the whole group stop.

"Hey, what gives?" Lightning asked.

"Yeah, I still need Scarlett to make my sandwich!"

"You just ate a sandwich."

"…shut up."

"It's this." Shawn bent down near the grass and emerged with a very small black rectangle in his hand. "It's a… flash drive, you guys were almost going to step on it."

"Oh." Ezekiel nodded. "Do, do yoo' recognize it or something?"

"When I first started here with Lightning and Scarlett was showing us around, I remember that this flash drive was the same one that she stored all of her information on, and when I tried to give it back to her…" He chuckled mid-sentence. "She nearly killed me, and I think she would if I didn't swear to her that I didn't look at any of the files inside it." Shawn held it up to his eyes to inspect it. "Yep, this is the one, _308209_, this was her flash drive. But how in the hell did it get all the way over here…"

"Oh." Max smiled in a way that Ezekiel noticed looked eerily similar to the Grinch. "That was my doing?"

"Sha-What?" Lightning eyed the young purple haired teen.

"When I went to the bathroom at Haven, I actually came here and demanded that Scarlett make me a sandwich, she refused. So when she wasn't looking, I swiped this and threw it in the grass." Max chuckled. "So _evil, hehehehe…"_

Shawn gave him an odd look. "You do realize when she finds out you did this that she'll kill you, right?"

"Bah!" Max waved his hand away. "Like she'll ever find out it was me." His face suddenly looked fearful. "You won't tell her right?"

"Well…" Lightning seemed to smirk at the purple haired genius. "Nah, Lightning don't care two shits about some flash drive."

"And I guess I can't because if I tell her then you might spin this around on me." Shawn frowned at Max. "There's little chance of her believing you over me, but I don't want to make that risk."

"Good." Max smirked triumphantly. He snatched the flashdrive out of his hands and looked at it with glee. "Haha, Scarlett right about now has no idea that I have it in my han-

"_**MAX!"**_

Ezekiel and the others whipped around to see Scarlett, fuming mad, and walking towards them, fists clenched.

"No!" Max quickly whipped the drive behind his back, anxious on what to do. One false error and Scarlett would discover that he was the culprit. He looked to the people around him and his eyes laid on Ezekiel, more importantly, the green hoodie with the large pocket Ezekiel was wearing. With one swift motion, Max thrusted the flash drive into Ezekiel's pocket. Ezekiel saw this, but before he could object, Scarlett was upon them. They all looked at her, and Ezekiel was astonished how Scarlett looked in contrast to how he originally saw her. Once someone quiet and reserved now seemed like she could tear Ezekiel, and even Lightning, from limb to limb.

"Maxwell…" She started softly. "Where is it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"My flash drive." She repeated. "Where is the flash drive."

"I- I have no idea what you're talking about." Max lied smoothly. "I just came back from Hoagie Haven."

Scarlett whipped her head around to Lightning. "Is this true!?"

"Uh, sha-yeah, Scarlett, he was with us the whole time." The body-builder gulped.

"Yep." Shawn murmured. Scarlett nodded her head, but then looked at Ezekiel. "You, you were one of those _idiots_ who woke up in my room in the pods!"

"Ex-excuse me?"

"Shit!" Scarlett turned around now, grasping her cranium. "Those _fuckers _were still in the room when they called me!"

And with that, Scarlett raced back inside.

Ezekiel blinked for a moment. "That… was scary…"

"Yeah." Shawn said. "I say."

"Look." Max turned to Ezekiel. "I hate to enlist your help in this, but my EVIL plan must succeed. So you have to hang onto that drive until you guys are going, then you can give it back to me."

"Boo'-

"Ezekiel, you don't have to agree to thi-

"Shut up!" Max yelled back at Shawn, before turning back to Ezekiel. "You guys are leaving in like two more hours, just hang around here and give it back to me then.""

"Wel-

"Just say yes! If you agree to this, I will make you governor of Argentina when I rule the world!"

"Uh… okay." Ezekiel shrugged. "I guess…"

"Good!" Max laughed triumphantly, his mood immediately shifting. As Max was laughing, Ezekiel turned to Shawn. When their eyes met, Shawn simply shrugged at him. Ezekiel turned to the ground, clutching the flash drive in his pocket. Even though stealing was wrong, he didn't want to even think about what Scarlett would do to Max if she found out he stole it from her. It wouldn't be so bad if he chose the lesser of the two evils and go along with Max if it meant that he wouldn't receive bodily harm.

Right?

* * *

"Alright, I don't think anyone will be in here." Heather said as she closed the door. She flipped the lights on so the room would illuminate. And with the brightness she saw Cody in front of her, his face emotionless. Honestly, it creeped Heather out a bit.

"Yeah, I don't think anyone will be in here." Cody affirmed, nodding. "We can talk about alliance stuff in here I guess."

His voice too, very monotone.

"Good." Heather replied, trying to shake it off. "Right then, obviously with what was just _revealed_, Courtney and Gwen are no longer strong allies, which is a plus."

"Great…" Cody rolled his eyes.

"But now Courtney's is being played into Alejandro's hands." Heather frowned. "That's a major problem."

"Courtney is an idiot." Cody frowned as well.

"I know that Cody." Heather tried to be firm, knowing where this could lead. "But the best strategy we could do now is to vote for Alejandro."

"I know." Cody shifted his eyes away from her.

"With Alejandro out of the picture then Courtney will have no allies, no one where she could possibly turn, if we eliminate Alejandro now next time Courtney will go." Heather tried to reason. "Plus, I know for a fact that Gwen and Noah are voting for Alejandro as well, that's a four person majority. If things were fractured I would consider voting for Courtney but from the way things are going," She shook her head.

"I get it Heather." Cody's voice seemed to crack with emotion. "But… _Duncan."_

This is what Heather feared.

"Cody…"

"I'm sorry Heather, but I can't vote for Alejandro. Not after what just happened. What _Noah and Gwen and Duncan did…" _He shook his head. "Maybe I can vote for Courtney, but I can't will myself to eliminate Alejandro. It's just, it'll kill me." Cody sniffed. "If I was going to vote, I would have to vote for either Noah or Duncan."

"Cody-

"I mean Noah, he _lied_ to me. He knew full well what he was doing and he lied to me about it." Cody seemed to stammer. Heather blinked.

"Whe-when was this?"

"A while ago, in London we talked in the halls on the plane." Cody said. He sighed. "But I'm not going to vote for Noah or Duncan. I'm going to vote for myself."

Silence.

"I hate screwing you over Heather and I'm sorry." Cody patted his chest. "But what Noah did to me was almost unforgivable. What Gwen and Duncan did to me hurt too, but I don't want to be a self-entitled douchebag and go after either one of them, I wasn't in a relationship with Gwen. This is more about the money, I just can't go on."

More silence from Heather.

"Damn it you hate me now don't you? I'm really really sorry Heather but I can't do it, I just can't. Maybe, I-I'll talk to Ezekiel about being in an alliance with you maybe-maybe he'll join one! Then you don't have to worry about my vote going away. I mean, shit, I-I…"

Heather just stared and watched Cody. And something clicked in her brain. She realized that she didn't like Cody being like this, not in just an alliance standpoint but also because a genuine friend was hurt. Newfound respect for Cody washed over her, as he didn't blame Gwen or Duncan, but Noah, for something totally valid. He had lied to him.

Heather looked at Cody.

"You're an idiot."

"Wha-

With one swift motion Heather collided with Cody with a kiss. Cody seemed to struggle for a brief moment, but surprise and good feelings swept over him for 5 seconds.

For those 5 seconds Cody's brain shut off, the stress and emotional numbness were gone. Cody felt good, and he forgot everything he knew for those 5 seconds.

Only for those 5 seconds.

He opened his eyes, realizing the situation was in, and he was brought back to Earth. He quickly struggled and jumped back from Heather, staring at her, face dumbfounded. He looked at her with a mixture of emotions, but ones of fearfulness and surprise took forth. Heather internally drooped. That was stupid what she did. What did she expect to happen? A kiss would bring him back to reality and erase all notions of him quitting?

"Heather I… with all this happening, I just can't… I'm sorry."

And with that Cody jumped around Heather and darted out the door. Heather looked at him running back, with him turning right around the corner. She sat down, putting her head down.

She had come to terms with herself and Cody.

It was selfish to her to think that it would have worked, how Cody would immediately follow all of her wishes and something would occur.

"Heather."

She looked up and saw Gwen, standing at the door.

"I'm voting for Alejandro." Heather said, gulping. She knew why Gwen was here.

"Oh… thank you."

"I don't need your thanks." Bitterness came pouring out of her voice. "Leave."

And with that Gwen walked away. Heather watched her go. Ignorant that even though they had a numbers advantage Cody's decision was final.

And even a kiss wouldn't change that.

* * *

Scarlett accessed a secure line on one of the many computers located in the complex. She started typing.

_308209 missing_

_How did this happen_

_One of those reality stars must have taken it from under me._

_Report to us in 5 minutes if you want any sort of chance of keeping your job. You know too much for us to __**dispose**__ of you. And even with that your punishment would be much more severe if you didn't have the set of skills and IQ that you possess. _

_Yes sir. _

_Xxx_Memorydump_Xxx_

Scarlett logged off quickly and scampered out of the room.

Xxx

After everything was said and done, it was finally time for the elimination ceremony. Chris managed to even bring shoddy benches to make it feel like they were on the plane again for the occasion. As everyone sat on the benches. Heather sat on the far end on the left whilst Cody sat on the far end on the right next to Ezekiel. Alejandro and Courtney sat on the bottom bleacher, next to each other. Noah, Gwen and Duncan sat on the top most bleacher.

Justin and the wonder twins stood in the corner, watching it all.

"I couldn't find Ezekiel in time." Duncan whispered to the both of them.

"Its fine, Heather's with us." Noah replied back. Duncan nodded curtly back at him.

"Well, well, well, back to another elimination ceremony." Chris smirked. "Set outside the hallway, as you most likely saw when you first got in is a small voting cabinet. Pick the guy or gal you want to send packing and get back."

* * *

"And here we go…" Chris smirked shuffling the passports in his hands.

"Noah

Gwen

Duncan

Ezekiel

Heather

Cody

Alejandro

Courtney."

"One of you will take the fall tonight." Chris laughed. "So let's get counting. The first vote goes too… Alejandro!"

"Second vote goes to… Duncan!"

"Third vote goes to…Duncan!"

"Fourth vote goes to…Alejandro!"

"That's two votes for Duncan and two votes for Alejandro." Chris repeated, trying to make it go as dramatic as possible.

"Fifth vote… again! To Alejandro! Al, I'd be a little nervous to be you right now." Chris smiled. "Sixth vote goes to… well this is strange, Noah?"

Noah blinked for a moment, his eyes glancing at Cody. He shrugged it off, half expecting that to happen.

"Sixth vote goes to… what? That makes no sens- whatever, Noah…"

Noah griped his seat now.

"I mean, it's mathematically impossible for him to be eliminated but wow, you must have pissed a lot of people off…"

"And the final vote goes to

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

…

"Cody! Which means that Alejandro is go-

"That was mine." Cody stood up. "I voted for myself. I quit."

Alejandro breathed a sigh of relief whilst the rest gasped. Chris scratched his head for a moment, but ran with it.

"Hey, it works out for us ratings wise if Alejandro stays on so be my guest. Your attitude was getting on my nerves anyway."

"Okay." Cody said standing up. He turned to Noah for a brief moment. "Before I go, I just gotta ask, why did you lie to me?"

Noah looked back at Cody.

"I couldn't risk it Cody, you know that."

"Fine." Cody frowned. "I see how it is then." He turns to Heather and sighs. "I apologize for running away from you earlier after what you did. That wasn't cool of me. And I'm sorry that I couldn't vote with Alejandro with you, but to be honest, I just couldn't go through being on this plane anymore after what Noah did to me."

"Uh, tick-tock, Cody, it's only a half hour show."

Cody turned to Chris, frowning quite a bit. "Screw off. Just edit it out later if you have a problem with time okay."

"Jeez, fine, proceed."

Cody turned back to Heather. "Mind if I say it out loud?"

"Against my better judgement, no I do not. I'm a bit tired of all this strategy shit, plus I think it would throw a lot of people for a loop." Heather smirked. Cody smiled back at her. "Thanks Heather, you're a good friend. And a good kisser."

"What?" Gwen's eyes widened a bit.

"We kissed." Cody said. "Well, she kissed me at least. I think she thought that it would convince me not to quit but…" He turned back to Heather again. "It didn't really work. No hard feelings though."

"Not at all, not at all." Heather smirked. She looked at Alejandro, whose eyes were twitching. "Maybe when this is all over we could…"

"I'd like that." Cody smiled. "At the playa or something we could maybe have a thing. But I have to go now so yeah… Hopefully after you get rid of Alejandro that you wouldn't mind getting rid of another certain liar for me…" Cody twiddled his thumbs. Noah shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"You can still say my name Cody."

"Fine I will, I hope you crash and burn Noah, preferable next challenge but I know that Heather wants Al gone a lot so that I ain't happening."

"Seriously, Cody." Chris tapped at his watch. "You're being a real dick right now dude."

"Just one minuter." He turned to Ezekiel. "Even though I'm rooting for Heather to win the money, I do honestly hope you get far Ezekiel, like really far, final 2 far."

"Wow, ooo'm, thanks Cody, I appreciate it."

"Alright Cody, you're leaving now." Chris demanded stamping his foot.

"Alright, alright." Cody held up his hands. "I'll go. So yeah, bye everyone." He flashed a peace sign before walking out the door with Chef. Chris shut the door as they exited. "Man! That kid's really annoying! Ezekiel, I think he overtook you as my all time least favorite contestant now."

"Oh, uh, thank yoo'?"

"It wasn't a compliment." Chris frowned. "Frankly, Cody ruined my mood so I'm going to cut out this little bit and film me tomorrow morning closing the episode. I want you all out of my face and find Lightning, he's going to lead you to Princeton where you're going to be staying, as they were a few extra dorms available that the college offered to let us use."

"We're not going to get in the plane?" Heather asked.

"No, Heather, we're not. Frankly I need at least one day to rest up after your new boyfriend's douche-like behavior, it was really draining. And now Chef and I have to look through all the footage with the editors for the final cut, and probably half of its him moaning and groaning. Leave all of you." Chris pointed out the door. The contestants shrugged but obliged and left the room. Once they met Lighting outside, they went en-route to Princeton.

However, a certain person forgot that he had to give something back.

Ezekiel was blissfully unaware of the flash-drive, having long forgotten the event after what just happened with Cody and Heather.

* * *

_Secure access. _

_We have told Scarlett what to do at this stage. The flash drive must be secured at all costs._

_Good, this is a delicate operation. _

_Sending files for next stage of operation not passed by word of mouth_

_Xxx_Processing_Xxx_

_Zugvinzgs_

_Nzrm Gsivv_

_Hxziovgg_

_Qlhv_

_Xzioz_

_Atbash received._

_Xxx_Memory Dump_Xxx_

* * *

**Authors Notes: To be honest, I'm not too sure how I feel about this chapter. A lot of things are all over the place and I don't feel like it's all that coherent. Plus I know that some of you don't like seeing Cody being an asshole. But honestly, I found it refreshing. I mean in every other competition fic when Gwen does this Cody goes through the same moping and doping thing. I made him more cinical and less on the moral highground now. And yes, he is now officially not on good terms with Noah. **

**Whether that changes near the end of the story only time will tell. **

**Speaking about Cody... Cody/Heather happened! Sorta... kinda... yeah sorry to some fans who wanted a bit more in regards to this, but if I made them be completely happy together it would be weird and I couldn't have Cody quit if that was the case. **

**But that's not the most important thing to come out of this chapter!**

**Yep, I really am excited about the mystery element coming into play later down the line. All I will say is that Scarlett will become a MAJOR character in this story and will become a permanent member on the character filter with Noah and Gwen. For the fourth, I've decided every chapter I'm going to switch it up who I'm going to put up there for the fourth spot. **

**Also, don't worry Noah and Gwen won't be overshadowed by this new plot thread, actually, this plot will heavily involve Noah. It's just this isn't his point to come in yet. Also in the coming chapters Gwen will start developing an attraction for Noah, instead of vice-versa. **

**So yeah, hope you enjoy figuring out the message and have a good day. **

-ewisko


	16. Goodbye

**Before I say what I am about to say, I will like to thank all of the people who read this story, reviewed, and told me how much you enjoyed it. It genuinely means a lot to me that some people have told me through PM that this was there all-time favorite fanfiction. **

**But as of today, I quit , and will no longer be updating this story anymore. **

**Again, I apologize to those who liked this story and read it, but I'm at the point of my life now where Fanfiction is taking up too much time for me, and I have to focus on my real life. **

**I know a lot of you want to know what happens to Noah and such, but I will, and I can't write anymore chapters. It's too taxing. **

**Which is why I'm giving you from the time I'm posting this, til-midnight to PM me about what I planned for the endgame of this story to be, and I will answer. Because tomorrow morning, I will be turning Private Messaging off. **

**Again, I'm sorry for doing this, and I sincerely hope you all have a good time. **

**Ewisko, for the last time, signing off. **

**-ewisko**


	17. UPDATE: There will be a Reboot

**A/N: Didn't want to break the rules of FF which is why it's formatted like this. Remember to read the whole thing so you know what's going on.**

* * *

Eric sat at his computer, scratching his head in deep thought, with an episode of The Ridonculous Race playing in another tab on his laptop. He really, _really _wanted to continue the story. But to reboot it now, it seemed weird. However, he knew that this plot had the potential for greatness, so he decided to do what he did. Coughing, as he finished his last keystroke, he read aloud to himself what he had typed on the computer.

"I hate to do this, making a whole chapter to say this but I guess I have no choice.

I'm officially back at , and have been for a while actually. Not with story just been going on the Total Drama Writers Forum and stuff. Cool place, it has great discussion and neato roleplays, one of which of I'm part of currently as Leonard. But that's besides the point.

When I knew I wanted to come back after I straightened more or less my priorities out, I felt so angry with myself for giving out the details for this story. That was a stupid move, one of the greatest blunders a writer of a fan fiction can ever make. Take my advice and never do it, even if someone asks you or if you feel guilty that no one will find the ending because you're sure in that moment you will never touch your story again, because if later down the road if you want to continue it, it'll bite you in the but." He paused.

"But I do really want to continue this story, despite me giving you all the ending. Which is why I'm going to reboot this story, and change EVERYTHING. Well not everything, the basic premise and catalyst will remain the same, but the whole plot of the story has been given a massive overhaul. So if you were one of those guys I did in fact tell EVERYTHING about the story, rest assured, it will NOT happen. I have an entirely new direction to take Noah on this."

He drummed his fingers on the desk.

"So here's what's going to happen. Sometime in the near future, I will publish a new story which will either be called **The Gambit **or **Gambit **or something along that nature. The reason I don't want to call it Noah's Gambit again is that I don't want to confuse it with this story. The only thing that will remain largely the same of this new story is the first chapter, but all the other chapters succeeding that one will be entirely new and different from plotlines, pairings and elimination order."

Eric sighed for a moment.

"The most thing I'm nervous about is that this new story will not garner as many reviewers as the previous or that many of the old guys who read this story will have forgotten about it. I hope that's not the case though..."

He scratched his sideburns.

"So yeah, in short:

1\. Noah's Gambit will be given a reboot as an entirely new story with a revamped plot and new elimination order.

2\. NOTHING THAT ANYONE HEARD FROM ME REGARDING THE PLOT OF NOAH'S GAMBIT THE FIRST TIME WILL OCCUR IN THIS STORY. I want this story to be different, so it won't be boring to read something that a majority of the readers know about.

3\. It will either be entitled **The Gambit or Gambit**, **NOT NOAH'S GAMBIT**!"

He ruffled his hair, turning to the clock, seeing it was 4:37 PM. He turned back to the computer.

"Once, and IF, the reboot gets a good enough attention, there's a good likelihood I will be deleting the original story to prevent confusion. But I will always have the original document saved, and will share it to anyone who wants a look. Because the old story won't be like the new one in terms of plot, I think I can do this.

So yeah, that's what's going to happen. I apologize for doing this and for ever canceling the original story. That was stupid of me. Although I still hope the original readers from the old will still stay on board for the new and haven't forgotten.

This is ewisko signing off for right now."

As Eric read the last line, a new wave of confidence was instilled in him. Drinking some water from his desk he clicked the submit document button on the manager. And with a few more mouse clicks and keystrokes, the original story was updated with it's last and final chapter.

He smiled to himself, what a ride it's been. He never had imagined that the original would EVER break 200 reviews. Hopefully this one could too, maybe even 300.

He clicked on his other tab, and started to watch _Hello and Dubai _again from RR.

* * *

**A/N: Reboot will be out soon guys.**

**Ciao.**


End file.
